Pervaporation Separation of Ethanol/Water Mixtures Using Cyclodextrin Filled PDMS Membranes

摘要

The production of ethanol biofuels has been receiving increased attention due to the escalating energy and environmental crisis. As the ethanol concentration reached above 5-8wt% in the fermentation process, the fermentation reaction was inhibited. And so the ethanol with low concentration should be recovered to ensure the continuous fermentation reaction. Pervaporation was a promising technology to recover ethanol from dilute solution in fermentation broth, since pervaporation turned out to be an alternative to distillation, characterized with energy efficient, no secondary pollution, and free from the restrictions of vapor-liquid equilibrium[1-2].