Vacuum assisted removal of volatile to semi-volatile organic contaminants from water using hollow fiber membrane contactors: I: Experimental results

Removal of 12 organic contaminants from water using a microporous polypropylene hollow fiber membrane (HFM) module was studied under low strip gas flow to water flow ratios (≤5:1). Removal efficiencies were found to be strongly dependent on the Henryʹs law constants indicating a substantial mass transfer resistance on the gas side. Vacuum can be either used to increase removal efficiencies, or to decrease the amount of strip gas that has to be treated without sacrificing efficiency.