Simulation of pervaporation process for ethanol dehydration by using pilot test results

This paper focuses on providing a pervaporation simulation method for ethanol dehydration from a practical point of view. The simulation procedure is performed by setting up simulation equations which describe the pervaporation process, obtaining the necessary data from pervaporation batch mode pilot tests, verifying the simulation tool through simulations of continuous mode pilot tests, and comparing the simulation results with the real pilot test results. We considered the mass and energy balances that describe separating an ethanol/water mixture by a pervaporation membrane. The simulation equations were mathematically expressed into simultaneous non-linear differential equations based on these balances. The necessary data for simulation consist of the thermophysical properties for the ethanol-water mixture and the characteristic data of a PVA composite membrane. The membrane characteristic data are permeation flux and membrane selectivity, which are functions of feed composition and operating conditions. These data were experimentally determined by a batch mode pilot test. The continuous mode pilot tests were simulated and the simulation results were compared to the real test results. The resulte were fairly good.