Korean Chemical Engineering Research

The Korean Institute of Chemical Engineers (한국화학공학회)
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Pervaporation Characteristics of NaA Zeolite Membrane for Water/Ethanol Mixture

NaA 제올라이트 분리막의 물/에탄올 투과증발 특성

  • Ahn, Hyoseong (Department of Chemical Engineering, Chungnam National University) ;
  • Lee, Hyeryeon (Department of Chemical Engineering, Chungnam National University) ;
  • Lee, Yongtaek (Department of Chemical Engineering, Chungnam National University)
  • Received : 2004.09.22
  • Accepted : 2004.11.26
  • Published : 2005.04.30
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Abstract

Membrane pervaporation processes could have advantages over distillation for separation of water/organics mixtures: a low energy demand and the ability to separate azeotropic mixtures or isomers. Zeolite membranes might show better thermal, mechanical and chemical stabilities than polymer membranes. Water could be effectively separated from water/organic mixtures using the NaA zeolite membrane because of its high hydrophilicity. In this study, water was separated by pervaporation using the NaA zeolite membrane from water/ethanol mixtures. As a mole fraction of ethanol increased, the total permeation flux and the water flux decreased while the separation factor increased, reached a maximum point, and decreased. As an experimental temperature increased, the total permeation flux increased while the separation factor increased at the lower mole fraction of ethanol than 0.8 and it decreased at the higher mole fraction of ethanol than 0.8. The total permeation flux and the separation factor could be maintained constant during the long term experiment longer than 160 hours. It was found that the NaA zeolite membrane synthesized in our study showed better performance on water/ethanol separation than that of a distillation process or PVA polymeric pervaporation membranes.

분리막 투과증발은 증류에 비하여 낮은 에너지를 요구하기 때문에 물/유기물 혼합물의 분리에 이용될 수 있으며 공비 혼합물이나 이성질체의 분리에 선호되는 방법이다. 제올라이트 분리막은 고분자 분리막에 비하여 열적, 기계적, 화학적 안정성이 우수하며 NaA 제올라이트 분리막은 큰 친수성을 나타내므로 물/유기물 혼합물로부터 효율적인 물 분리에 적합하다. 본 연구에서는 NaA 제올라이트 분리막을 이용한 투과증발 막분리 공정을 이용하여 물/에탄올 혼합물에서 선택적으로 물을 분리하고자 하였다. 에탄올의 공급 농도가 증가함에 따라 총투과플럭스는 감소하였으며 선택도는 증가한 후 높은 에탄올 농도에서 감소하는 것을 관찰할 수 있었다. 실험 온도의 증가에 따라 총투과플럭스는 증가하였으며 선택도 또한 증가하였지만 높은 에탄올 농도에서는 감소하였다. 160시간 이상의 장기간 실험을 통하여 총투과플럭스와 선택도가 안정적으로 일정함을 확인할 수 있었다. 또한, 본 연구를 통하여 얻어진 NaA 제올라이트 분리막은 증류 및 PVA 계열 고분자 분리막보다 우수한 성능을 나타냄을 알 수 있었다.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

Supported by : 한국학술진흥재단

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