Full-scale vibrating pervaporation membrane unit: VOC removal from water and surfactant solutions

A commercial-scale vibrating membrane system was evaluated for the separation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from aqueous solutions by pervaporation. Experiments with surrogate solutions of up to five VOCs in the presence and absence of a surfactant were performed to compare performance of the full-scale vibrating system with that previously observed at the laboratory-scale as well as the performance of the same full-scale system during a recent field demonstration project. The primary process variables studied were amplitude of vibration, temperature, liquid flow rate, and permeate pressure. Data were obtained with two types of silicone rubber membranes—a thick (254 μm) fiberglass reinforced silicone membrane and a more typical pervaporation membrane consisting of a 10 μm silicone layer on a microporous support. The full-scale vibrating system delivered mass transfer coefficients comparable to those observed at the laboratory-scale and, under certain conditions, were comparable to those obtained with spiral wound pervaporation modules.