Membrane research in energy and solvent recovery from industrial effluent streams: Final report, November 1, 1982--November 31, 1987

Technical Report · Sat Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1988

OSTI ID:6417244

Baker, R W

This report describes a five-year program to develop a membrane process for separating organic vapors from air. The process uses membranes much more permeable to organic solvents than to air. A vacuum pump on the permeate side of the membrane is used to draw organic vapors through the membrane leaving a solvent-depleted air stream behind and producing a concentrated solvent-containing permeate stream. Solvent is recovered from the permeate stream by cooling and condensation. The program started with basic permeability measurements with thick films to determine suitable membrane materials. The technology required to form these materials into thin composite membranes was then developed and these membranes were fabricated into spiral-wound membrane modules. These membrane modules, containing from 0.3 to 4 m/sup 2/ of membrane, were evaluated with model solvent-containing air streams in the laboratory and in the field. The process appears to be an attractive method of treating air streams containing 0.5 to 5.0% solvent. A number of industrial applications are being investigated and we are currently developing pilot units able to treat 50 to 100 scfm of solvent-containing air for field evaluations. Our goal is to install the first commercial systems in the beginning of 1989. 7 refs., 57 figs., 15 tabs.

• Research Organization: Membrane Technology and Research, Inc., Menlo Park, CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-83ID12379
• OSTI ID: 6417244
• Report Number(s): DOE/ID/12379-2; ON: DE89008896
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
424000* -- Engineering-- Pollution Control Equipment-- (1980-1989)
500200 -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
COMPOSITE MATERIALS
CONTROL
DOCUMENT TYPES
FABRICATION
FIELD TESTS
FILMS
MATERIALS
MEMBRANES
ORGANIC SOLVENTS
PERFORMANCE TESTING
POLLUTION CONTROL
PROGRESS REPORT
SEPARATION EQUIPMENT
SOLVENTS
TESTING
THIN FILMS
USES
VAPOR SEPARATORS