Separations Technology, Vol.6, No.1, 69-75, 1996
Removal of water from aroma aqueous mixtures using pervaporation processes
In the field of food technology the main applications of pervaporation through hydrophilic membranes are the removal or extraction of water from aroma azeotropic aqueous mixtures. In this study, experiments for removal of water containing aroma compounds of ethanol, propanol, butanol, hexanol, ethyl acetate and acetic acid were performed through a composite, plate and frame type hydrophilic PVA (poly vinyl alcohol) membrane in a 0.5 m(2) plane module at constant feed temperature and permeate Vacuum pressure. The analysis is presented in terms of variations in permeation flux and separation factor. The results show the decrease in separation factor as well as permeation Aux with the increase of alcohol in feed. Hexanol does not permeate through PVA membrane. Activity coefficient of water is higher than that of organic. Pervaporation selectivity differ from Liquid-vapor thermodynamic equilibrium.