Y. Kitamura et al., SEPARATION OF UNSATURATED FATTY-ACID METHYL-ESTERS BY SOLVENT-EXTRACTION WITH BOTH HYDROPHILIC AND HYDROPHOBIC MEMBRANES, Kagaku kogaku ronbunshu, 24(5), 1998, pp. 797-802
Separation of oleic acid methyl ester/linolic acid methyl ester and ol
eic acid/linolic acid is carried out by membrane extraction with both
hydrophilic and hydrophobic membranes. The hydrophilic and hydrophobic
membranes used were hollow fiber types, and polar solution such as ac
etonitrile with 10 wt % water and organic solution such as heptane wer
e fed inside the fiber and in the shell side, respectively. The polar
solution containing unsaturated fatty acid methyl esters was fed to th
e center of the membrane extraction apparatus so that the apparatus ha
d both an enriching section and a stripping section. By this feed meth
od, higher membrane performances such as solute purity and recovery ar
e obtained than in the case of feeding to the edge of the apparatus. W
hen hydrophobic and hydrophilic membranes are used in the stripping an
d enriching sections, respectively, the superior membrane performances
is obtained. Further, effects of flow rate of polar solution and the
hydrophobic membrane length on themembrane performances are investigat
ed. The membrane performances by this membrane extraction method are a
nalyzed, and the calculation results are confirmed to be approximately
in agreement with the experimental data.