Effect of butanol, ethanol and acetone feed composition through activated carbon-containing polydimethylsiloxane pervaporation membrane

The ABE route, whose products are acetone, butanol and ethanol, is an industrial process that has been investigated by the possibility of incorporating renewable resources as inputs of chemical compounds and fuels. In view of the toxicity of 1-butanol to the cells of the fermentation broth, pervaporation by means of a polydimethylsiloxane mixed matrix membrane containing 1 wt% activated carbon was used as an alternative to recover this alcohol simultaneously to its production. Synthetic aqueous solution of acetone, 1-butanol and ethanol was investigated with total organic content varied from 1.5 to 2.7 wt%. Permeate flux and selectivity (separation and enrichment factors) were reported. Regarding the organics transport through the membrane, there was not a linear relation of their content in feed stream and flux. Besides, the permeation sequence did not follow a single transport mechanism. High separation and enrichment factors for acetone and butanol were observed.