Removal of VOCs from aqueous solutions using pervaporation process
Paper Details
Removal of VOCs from aqueous solutions using pervaporation process
Abstract
The contamination of groundwater and surface water by Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is a problem at many industrial sites. VOCs are present in effluents from industries such as petroleum refineries and chemical plants. Acrylonitrile, which is toxic to humans, is one of the VOCs used in large quantities as an important industrial material for production of synthetic polymers; consequently, it is present in many industrial effluents. More stringent requirements for the removal of VOCs from wastewater in recent years have increased the need to develop new technologies for removal of VOCs from dilute streams. Membrane pervaporation is an attractive and potentially cost-competitive alternative to traditional methods for removing low concentration of VOCs from wastewater. In this study, the batch removal of acrylonitrile, as a VOC, from aqueous solutions using pervavoration process under different experimental conditions was investigated. The influences of temperature, initial concentration, permeate pressure, feed flow rate and membrane thickness on the acrylonitrile removal efficiency was investigated. The results of experiments confirmed that pervaporation applied to the separation of organic compound from water and wastewater is very promising method. PDMS membrane showed very good properties in the separation of acrylonitrile, reaching 99.6% removal of that compound.
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