Pervaporation

-based Separation Processes for Pollution Prevention and Waste Treatment

Objective:

To advance scientific understanding, performance, and engineering application of pervaporation-based technological solutions and to address important pollution risk issues that endanger human health and the environment through the development, publication, and dissemination of high quality research data and outputs. Through our projects, we hope to: provide tools and information to evaluate the performance of pervaporation, to develop new applications for this technology, and remove impediments to development through bench- and pilot-scale demonstrations.

Background:

As industries move to incorporate pollution prevention principles into their production processes and attempt to remediate existing contaminated sites and waste streams, new cost-effective separation technologies are needed. In addition, for process retrofits, these separation technologies must be easily integrated into existing plant designs. Membrane technologies can be utilized to separate, fractionate, and concentrate contaminants or process components. In general, they require minimal temperature changes and chemical addition, operate in either continuous or batch modes, use significantly less energy than traditional separation processes, do not alter the chemical structure of the processed materials, and are easy to integrate into existing processes due to their modular nature and compact size.

Pervaporation Team Projects:

NRMRL pervaporation research can be divided into four main projects. In the first project, evaluation and creation of dehydration membranes will continue. In the second project, new membranes and pervaporation process design changes will be implemented to increase the recovery efficiency of alcohols from aqueous industrial process streams including biomass fermentation processes. Finally, development of polymer coated ceramic composite membranes will continue. All of the aforementioned work will be carried out by a team of EPA scientists/engineers/ technicians/computer specialists, postdoctoral researchers, and senior environmental employment program collaborators, with as-needed assistance from contractors and cooperators.

Publications:

VOC Removal from Water and Surfactant Solutions by Pervaporation: A Pilot Study
L. Hitchens, L.M. Vane, and F.R. Alvarez, Separation and Purification Technology, 24, 67-84, 2001.

Demonstration of Pilot-Scale Pervaporation Systems for Volatile Organic Compound Removal from a Surfactant Enhanced Aquifer Remediation Fluid. I. Spiral Wound Membrane Modules
F.R. Alvarez, L.M. Vane, and L. Hitchens, Environmental Progress, 20, 53-63, 2001.

Demonstration of Pilot-Scale Pervaporation Systems for Volatile Organic Compound Removal from a Surfactant Enhanced Aquifer Remediation Fluid. II. Hollow Fiber Membrane Modules
I. Abou-Nemeh, S. Majumdar, A. Saraf, K.K. Sirkar, L.M. Vane, F.R. Alvarez, and L. Hitchens, Environmental Progress, 20, 64-73, 2001.

Removal of Methyl t-Butyl Ether (MTBE) from Water by Pervaporation: Bench-Scale and Pilot-Scale Evaluations
L.M. Vane, F.R. Alvarez, and B. Mullins, Environmental Science & Technology, 35, 391-397, 2001.

Field Demonstration of Pervaporation for the Separation of Volatile Organic Compounds from a Surfactant-Based Soil Remediation Fluid
L.M. Vane, L. Hitchens, F.R. Alvarez, and E.L. Giroux, Journal of Hazardous Materials, 81, 141-166, 2001.

Henry's Law Constants and Micellar Partitioning of VOC's in Surfactant Systems
L.M. Vane and E.L. Giroux, Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data, 45, 38-47, 2000.

Separation of Volatile Organic Compounds from Surfactant Solutions by Pervaporation
L.M. Vane, E.L. Giroux, F.R. Alvarez, and L. Hitchens, Chapter 5 in Surfactant-Based Separations: Science and Technology, ACS Symposium Series No. 740, American Chemical Society, New York 2000

Reduction of Concentration Polarization in Pervaporation Using Vibrating Membrane Module
L.M. Vane, F.R. Alvarez, and E.L. Giroux, Journal of Membrane Science, 153, 233-241, 1999.

Pervaporation, Chapter in Second Edition of Standard Handbook of Hazardous Waste Treatment and Disposal
L.M. Vane, Ed. by H. Freeman, McGraw-Hill, New York 1998.

Zenon Environmental, Inc.: Cross-Flow Pervaporation Technology Innovative Technology Evaluation Report, U.S. EPA Report EPA/540/R-95/511 (December 1998). Recovery of VOCs from Surfactant Solutions by Pervaporation
J.-S. Jiang, L.M. Vane, and S.K. Sikdar, Journal of Membrane Science, 136, 233-247, 1997

Pervaporation: Principles and Applications
B.K. Dutta, W. Ji, and S.K. Sikdar, Separation and Purification Methods, 25, 131-224, 1996.

Contact Information:

Primary Investigators:
Dr. Leland Vane
(513) 569-7799
vane.leland@epa.gov
Fax: (513) 569-7677
Postal Address:
26 West Martin Luther King Drive
Mail Stop 443
Cincinnati, Ohio 45268