Fuel butanol dehydration by using a membrane based pervaporation method

The usage of bio-fuel for transportation fuel has become mandatory to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and increase the fuel quality. It is well known that the bio-fuels such as bio-ethanol and bio-butanol are produced by the fermentation process and the final concentrations of these alcohols in fermentation broth are very low. Therefore, effective and selective separation processes are required to be used. Pervaporation is a cost effective and selective membrane process that separates azeotropic, close-boiling-point mixtures from each other. It is commercially used as a hybrid process with distillation in the fermentation plant. The performance of this method depends on the productivity, durability, stability, and selectivity of the membrane. Thus, academic studies related to the pervaporation membrane production are still in progress. The purpose of this study is dehydration of bio-butanol by using pervaporation. Montmorillonite clay incorporated carboxymethyl cellulose composite membrane has been prepared. Effects of temperature and butanol-water concentration on separation performance have been investigated.