Analysis of countercurrent membrane vapor extraction of a dilute aqueous biosolute

作者：Liu David E; Cerretani Colin; Tellez Rodrigo; Scheer Agnes P; Sciamanna Steve; Bryan Paul F; Radke Clayton J^*; Prausnitz John M

来源：AIChE Journal, 2015, 61(9): 2795-2809.

DOI：10.1002/aic.14892

• membrane vapor extraction
• phase equilibria
• mass-transfer resistance
• membrane convective-diffusion
• separation factor
• process design

Removal of dilute bioproducts from fermenter broths is a major challenge both to avoid microbe inhibition and to recover solutes economically without water loss. We analyze a proposed new process, membrane vapor extraction (MVE), where semi-volatile dilute aqueous solutes vaporize at the upstream side of an omniphobic, microporous membrane and dissolve into a nonpolar solvent highly favorable to the solutes but not to water. A new membrane-process analysis is outlined and applied to the countercurrent recovery of 2 wt % aqueous butanol by a prototype solvent (dodecane) at 40 degrees C. Thermodynamic phase equilibria, pioneered by the Prausnitz school, are crucial to MVE process design. Over 90% of the feed butanol is recovered with essentially no water loss giving a separation factor of over 1000. Energy requirements in MVE are low. Our design calculations demonstrate that MVE is a viable separation process to remove and recover dilute aqueous biosolutes.

• 出版日期2015-9