Mass Transport Models in Organic Solvent Nanofiltration: A Review

Membrane technology has been gradually used as an alternative to the conventional separation and purification method in various industries. In recent years, solvent-stable nanofiltration or organic solvent nanofiltration has becoming practicable through the development of solvent-stable commercial polymeric membranes. Organic solvent nanofiltration has a great potential to replace the conventional energy-demanding process such as distillation due to its ability of separating organic solvents and solutes on a molecular level without phase change and operation at relatively mild temperature. Predicting the performance of such membrane separations is crucial in the process design. Important performance indicator such as the permeate flux and the rejections are strongly related to the fluid dynamics, mass transfer and solute-solvent-membrane interactions. The aim of this paper is to review and assess the transport models of solute and solvent transport relevant to organic solvent nanofiltration. The link between concentration polarization and the hydrodynamics in various configurations are discussed. The effects of process variables on membrane performance and solute-solvent membrane interactions are also reviewed.