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The pervaporative membrane with vertically aligned carbon nanotube nanochannel for enhancing butanol recovery

Yang, Decai, Cheng, Chi, Bao, Meiting, Chen, Lijie, Bao, Yongming, Xue, Chuang
Journal of membrane science 2019 v.577 pp. 51-59
asymmetric membranes, biobutanol, butanol, carbon nanotubes, culture media, diffusivity, fermentation, polydimethylsiloxane, solubility, temperature
Vertically aligned (VA) and open-ended carbon nanotube (CNT) arrays filled polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) composite membrane was fabricated, characterized, and evaluated for pervaporative recovery of butanol from acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation broth. The VA CNT (open-ended)/PDMS membrane displayed various advantages over homogeneous PDMS membrane, since the VA CNT (open-ended)/PDMS membrane demonstrated a simultaneous improved butanol flux and separation factor, which was the result of higher butanol solubility and diffusivity of this membrane. Both butanol flux and separation factor showed a sharp enhancement with increasing feed temperature (30–80 °C), and with increasing feed butanol concentration (5–25 g/L). The maximum total flux and butanol separation factor of the VA CNT (open-ended)/PDMS membrane reached 1093.7 g/m2 h and 37.6 at 80 °C, respectively. The composite membrane showed a stable performance for long-time continuous operation with fermentation broth for biobutanol production. Overall, the VA CNT (open-ended)/PDMS membrane showed higher butanol flux and selectivity than homogeneous PDMS membrane, and has great potentials for butanol separation from ABE fermentation.