New generation vapour permeation membranes

doi:10.1016/B978-1-78242-246-4.00009-X

Pervaporation, Vapour Permeation and Membrane Distillation

Principles and Applications

Woodhead Publishing Series in Energy

2015, Pages 247-273

Pervaporation, Vapour Permeation and Membrane Distillation

https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-1-78242-246-4.00009-X Get rights and content

Abstract

In vapour permeation the feed is a vapour, in contrast to pervaporation, where the feed is a liquid. The process employs a membrane to provide a semipermeable barrier between the feed side under high pressure and the permeate side under low pressure. Separation is achieved by the different degrees to which components are dissolved in and diffuse through the membrane; the system works according to a solution-diffusion mechanism. The materials used in the membrane depend on the types of compounds being separated, and polar polymers are preferred for water transport. Therefore hydrophilic membranes, whether organic or inorganic, have been thoroughly explored; in particular those made from poly(vinyl alcohol), which is the basis for several commercial membranes. Incorporation of inorganic nanoparticles such as silica allows operation at high fluxes and temperatures, as required for steam separation for example. Furthermore, adding particular nanoparticles can improve the antiviral and antibacterial properties of polymeric membranes. Other mixed matrix membranes include an annealed sodium alginate/poly(vinyl alcohol) membrane that is complexed with calcium ions. The annealing process markedly affected the membrane morphology and led to shrinkage of the free volume between the polymer chains. Purely inorganic zeolite membranes have been prepared by depositing a zeolite on a porous α-alumina support seeded with zeolite NaA crystals. Dense intergrown zeolite crystals were formed on the outer surface, to give a system that was highly permeable to water. Novel metal–organic frameworks in nanoparticle form have been incorporated in silicone rubber to produce membranes suitable for use in biorefining. The species employed was a zeolitic imidazolate framework of exceptional thermal and chemical stability. The membranes produced are capable of avoiding severe plasticisation under aggressive feed conditions. They can have very selective adsorption characteristics that are capable of being tailored at the pore level to create unique interactions with guest molecules to meet a particular need. So far only a limited number of types of hydrophobic frameworks have been examined, with most effort going toward gas separation applications. Some may give rise to fouling, so this is an area that needs to be evaluated, and at worst, an appropriate pretreatment devised; additives with hydrophilic pore surfaces seem to be an essentially unexplored territory.

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Cited by (12)

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Citation Excerpt :
In particular, membrane separation results a promising separation technology because it needs lower energy-inputs than the conventional operations (favoring the energy-saving), and guarantees enhanced efficiency. A vapor permeation (VP), or pervaporation, membrane assisted processes may ensure high efficiency in the removal of water from organic compounds, in which the chemical potential gradient represents the driving force regulating the mass transfer through the membrane (Yuan et al., 2011; Li et al., 2013; Penkova et al., 2015; Bo et al., 2018; Bolto et al., 2015). Membrane reactors (MRs) result to be an emerging technology, useful to carry out reaction processes of organic synthesis (Gómez-García et al., 2017; Su et al., 2016; Jin et al., 2016).
The combination of new technologies for achieving more efficient and sustainable processes due to their mutual integration is gaining particular interest in industry. In this study, the role of vapor membrane permeation technology in enhancing the catalytic performance of esterification of acetic acid with ethanol was considered. A computational fluid dynamic model was developed using COMSOL Multiphysics 5.4 as a software to predict the behavior of a zeolite membrane reactor used for carrying out the aforementioned esterification reaction. Reliable esterification reaction kinetics and water permeation mechanism through a zeolite membrane were used in the CFD model, comparing from a theoretical point of view the performance of a zeolite membrane reactor with an equivalent traditional reactor. After model validation, this theoretical study allowed to evaluate the effect of different operating parameters (operating pressure between 1 and 5 bar, feed molar ratio between 1 and 10, feed flow rate between 1.0·10⁻⁶ and 4.0·10⁻⁵ mol/s) on the performance of both the reactors. The theoretical predictions demonstrated the superiority of the zeolite membrane reactor over the traditional reactor during the acetic acid esterification with ethanol, reaching as best simulation results 99% AcOH conversion and 92% water vapor removal.
Enhanced coproduction and trade-off of the hydrogen and butanol in the coupled system of pervaporation and repeated-cycle fixed-bed fermentation
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Citation Excerpt :
The conventional method in industry for solvent separation from broth is distillation that is an energy consuming process. While, pervaporation is said to be a relatively low energy demanding technology owing to its low temperature requirement (Bolto, 2015; Koczka et al., 2007; Meyer et al., 2016). This means that the combination of the fermentation and pervaporation would not only remove the inhibition but also decrease the energy consumption of the solvent separation and purification.
In the study, a coupled system of pervaporation and repeated-cycle fixed bed fermentation with the bagasse as the carrier material was developed. Three repeated cycles of fermentation lasting for 540 h was efficiently carried out to coproduce hydrogen and butanol with the strain Clostridium acetobutylicum. From 1st cycle to 3rd cycle, the average hydrogen productivity and butanol productivity were around 130 mLL⁻¹ h⁻¹ and 0.15 gL⁻¹ h⁻¹, respectively. Average hydrogen yield and butanol yield were around 0.17 Lg⁻¹ and 0.19 gg⁻¹. The hydrogen and butanol production per unit cell weight were 27 Lg⁻¹ and 31 gg⁻¹, which were more than two times of those in a conventional repeated-cycle fermentation. The trade-off and competition between the hydrogen and butanol production was studied and analyzed. Compared with the pervaporation-free fermentation, the hydrogen yield was decreased by 14 % and butanol yield was increased by 27 % in the coupled system. Instantaneous solvent removal from the broth by pervaporation changed probably the metabolic pathway to more butanol production over hydrogen. From 1st cycle to 3rd cycle, the respiration heat generated during each fermentation cycle could cover 45 %, 24 % and 37 % of the total energy requirement of the pervaporation achieving the best use of the energy.
A new concept for generating mechanical work from gas permeation
2020, Journal of Membrane Science
Large amounts of energy are available from gas concentration gradients in thermal power plant exhaust. For example, the energy potential of carbon dioxide and water vapor gradients from flue gas and cooling towers of coal-fired and natural gas-fired power plants represents 1–2% of the plant's overall capacity. In this paper, we introduce a novel membrane-based gas permeation process for using concentration gradients of gas mixture to generate useful mechanical work in the form of compressed gas flow. The concept is experimentally validated using a simple binary gas mixture of nitrogen and water vapor with commercially available polydimethylsiloxane membranes. Power density from water vapor flux of 57 mW/m² and power density from net gas flux of 11.5 mW/m² are observed under relatively conservative laboratory test conditions. Fundamental transport dynamics are modelled and used to simulate the response of the system to membrane properties and feed concentrations, and up to 600 mW/m² is reported for the cases considered. The possibility of recovering energy from exhaust gases may open up new opportunities for improving power plant efficiency and sustainability.
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Citation Excerpt :
Fig. 1 summarizes the preparation procedure. The siloxane matrix was chosen considering its excellent water vapor permeability [30], in order not to inhibit the water vapor mass diffusion process or a modification of the de/hydration process during the operation. Fig. 2 shows the composite foam samples obtained at increasing salt content (in the range 40 wt.
This paper reports about the first experimental activity on a composite material for thermal energy storage, based on a SrBr₂·6H₂O filled silicone foam. The morphological and thermal features of the composite with different salt content (i.e. between 40 wt.% and 70 wt.%) were investigated. The dehydration behavior was studied by thermo-gravimetric analysis. Furthermore, scanning electron and 3D optical microscopy were used to compare the cellular microstructure of the composite foams. The synthesized foams are characterized by a well-interconnected cellular structure with a three-dimensional porous network. This, together with the high permeability to water vapor of the matrix favors water vapor diffusion and allows the reaction of all the salt embedded in the matrix. The main advantages of the composite material were analyzed and compared to other composites in literature. Since the production process, especially for higher salt content, seemed not sufficiently effective, causing a reduced foaming ration and lower ability to incorporate the salt hydrate, possible improvements were proposed and discussed.
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Citation Excerpt :
However, up-to-date, reliable information about VP and PV current markets are difficult to find, especially for new membrane materials, which are still seldom developed at the industrial scale. A review on the new generation membranes for VP applications is proposed by Bolto, Hoang, Gray, & Xie (2015). The most recent advances in the VP framework are mainly focused on new membrane materials, in particular the supported ionic liquid membranes (Dahi et al., 2014; Krull, Fritzmann, & Melin, 2008; Matsumoto, Inomoto, & Kondo, 2005; Matsumoto, Ueba, & Kondo, 2009; Wang, Lin, Wu, & Peng, 2008).
Food-processing gaseous effluents are rich in flavoured volatile organic compounds (FVOCs). The discharge of these FVOCs is unwanted as they can contribute to the environmental olfactive pollution.
Their recovery would then enable their valuation through the strengthening of the organoleptic properties of the finished products or their use in other products, as well as reducing the pollution linked to their discharge. However, there are only a few documents in the literature concerning food aromas recovery from gaseous effluents. This paper reviews the used or potential technologies for the recovery of aromas from gaseous effluents in the food-processing industry.
The technologies that are already applied in the food processing industry for aroma recovery from gaseous effluents are the vapour permeation and the condensation. The adsorption and the absorption are technologies used for scrubbing volatile organic compounds, which can be potentially used for gaseous aroma recovery.

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9 - New generation vapour permeation membranes

Abstract