Efficient Ethanol Separation from Water Using Vacuum Membrane Distillation

Abstract

This work presents an investigation into the efficiency of ethanol separation from water using vacuum membrane distillation (VMD). The study explores the influence of variables such as feed flow rate, initial ethanol concentration, and temperature on the performance of the distillation process. The polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane was utilized due to its desirable properties such as high thermal stability, chemical resistance, and excellent mechanical properties. The results showed that the feed temperature had the greatest impact on the permeation flux. The permeate flux and ethanol flux increased with increasing initial ethanol concentration, while the separation factor decreased. Increasing the feed flow rate also resulted in increased permeate flux, ethanol flux, and separation factor. The study provides valuable insights into the optimization of the VMD process for efficient ethanol-water separation. The findings could potentially contribute to the development of more sustainable and efficient separation processes in the industry.