Use of pervaporation systems in the chemical industry

Pervaporation is a very effective membrane process for the separation of liquid mixtures. Due to its economics, efficacy and simplicity, it can easily be integrated into distillation and rectification processes and, depending on the specific operation parameters, even partially replace them. At present, data on industrial scale pervaporation processes are available on the removal of water from aqueous-organic mixtures, e.g. dehydration of aqueous ethanol as well as aqueous isopropanol. Based on this separation process, basic principles of pervaporation are outlined and the requirements on membranes, modules and process design are discussed. Further examples describing the dehydration of binary and ternary mixtures of organic solvents with water will explain the economic potential of pervaporation processes in the chemical industry.