Recovery of dilute acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) solvents from aqueous solutions via membrane distillation

The simultaneous recovery of dilute acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) solvents from aqueous solutions by air gap membrane distillation was theoretically a ssessed. A previously developed and validated Stefan-Maxwell based mathemat ical model was used for this purpose. It was found that membrane distillati on could successfully be used for the recovery of these solvents. Interesti ngly it was found that butanol could be separated with the highest selectiv ity and flux though it has the highest boiling point. The effect of operati ng conditions such as feed and cooling surface temperatures, air gap width, and individual component concentration on the flux and selectivity of thes e solvents was examined and discussed in this paper.