Applicability of osmotic concentration for concentration of alcohols - The effect of operating conditions on flux of Glycerol

This reaserch was carried out for controlling and enhancement the flux of water from the GVHP membrane in osmotic concentration (OC) for mixture of Glycerol and water (wt50% -wt99%). At constant operating conditions of time and stirring, the influence of temperature and feed concentration on Glycerol dehydration by osmotic concentration will be discussed in this study. The operating temperature was changed between 20 o C and 60 o C. The obtained results were analyzed using MultiSimplex Lite software. By this software influence of temperature and feed concentration (concentration of initially mixture) on the flux of water was studied and optimum conditions were obtained. The optimum condition for highest mass flux was 44 ° C using a solvent containing 45% Glycerol. From these results was found that permeation characteristics are obviously depend on the feed concentration and temperature. Results showed that increasing in mass flux is obtained by increasing the water fractional pressure in feed side. The permeation rate significantly increases and the selectivity decreases with increasing the temperature.

Keywords:

Membrane , osmotic concentration , Glycerol , optimization , operating conditions