Mohsen Farsi - Department of Chemical Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Babak almasinia - Research and Development Office, Isfahan Oil Refinery Company, Isfahan, Iran
Amir Heidarinasab - Department of Chemical Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Bizhan Honarvar - Department of Chemical Engineering, Marvdasht Branch, Islamic Azad University, Marvdasht, Iran

Crosslinking the polymer in the membrane technology makes it insoluble in the feed mixture, and decreases its swelling in order to derive a good selectivity. Improving swelling resistance of the membrane in the solvent depends on the formation of reticular spatial structure by crosslinking agent. Pervaporation is one of the novel processes, which has been investigated for removal of different sulfur containing compounds, especially thiophene or its derivatives from FCC gasoline and diesel. Unlike HDS process, this is a non-reactive process and therefore, does not reduce the octane number of gasoline stream by saturating the olefin compounds. Moreover, it operates at lower temperature and consumes relatively less energy in comparison to other conventional processes. In the recent years, different polymers such as PDMS, polyethylene glycol (PEG), polyimide (PI), poly phosphazene, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polyhedral oligomer silsesquioxane (POSS), and polysulfon have been used as membrane material for removal of thiophene from gasoline and diesel

Crosslinking, Swelling, Pervaporation, PDMS, PEG