Articles techniques et présentations

Pervaporation is the selective evaporation of one component in a liquid mixture using a membrane. HybSi pervaporation membranes consist of porous ceramic support tubes with a thin selective layer on the inside or feed side. Modules for 7 and 19 membrane bundles (surface area up to 2.0 m2) are studied in COMSOL Multiphysics® for the absence of pressure drop on the permeate side. With a water flux of 20 kg/m2/h, the pressure drop is 0.1 mbar for the 7 bundle module and 0.2 mbar for the 19 bundle module: both well below the design target of 1 mbar. Thus, flow conditions at the permeate side for either module do not contribute significantly to the mass transfer resistance for pervaporation.