HIGH-EFFICIENCY SEPARATION OF AN ETHYLENE ETHANE MIXTURE BY A LARGE-SCALE LIQUID-MEMBRANE CONTACTOR CONTAINING FLAT-SHEET NONPOROUS POLYMERIC GAS-SEPARATION MEMBRANES AND A SELECTIVE FLOWING-LIQUID ABSORBENT
Dg. Bessarabov et al., HIGH-EFFICIENCY SEPARATION OF AN ETHYLENE ETHANE MIXTURE BY A LARGE-SCALE LIQUID-MEMBRANE CONTACTOR CONTAINING FLAT-SHEET NONPOROUS POLYMERIC GAS-SEPARATION MEMBRANES AND A SELECTIVE FLOWING-LIQUID ABSORBENT, Industrial & engineering chemistry research, 34(5), 1995, pp. 1769-1778
Ethylene and ethane were effectively separated from a mixture comprisi
ng these two gases by means of a large-scale liquid-membrane contactor
(membrane permabsorber). The contactor comprised composite flat-sheet
membranes with a nonporous diffusional layer made from polyblock copo
lymer poly(dimethylsiloxane)/poly(phenylsilsesquioxane) and an aqueous
solution of silver nitrate flowing along turbulence-promoter spacers
between the membranes. The membrane permabsorber permitted ethylene an
d ethane to be separated effectively from a binary mixture. The proble
m with the selection of suitable membranes is discussed. It was shown
that the efficiency of the separation process could be varied by chang
ing the liquid-flow rate, the membrane area, the concentration of the
selective carrier in the liquid, the temperature of the liquid absorbe
nt, and the gas-separation properties of the membranes.