A silicon microseparator based pervaporation process for separation of ethanol/water mixtures using a polymer membrane

The selective removal of water from ethanol through pervaporation was demonstrated in a microchannel device using a commercial membrane. Photolithography and dry etching techniques were employed for fabrication of the microseparator with hydraulic diameters of 30 mu m to 80 mu m. Experiments conducted at 90 degrees C and 2-3 Torr, with Reynolds Numbers ranging from 8 to 91, resulted in an average water and ethanol permeance of 1.2 x 10(-3) and 8 X 10(-5) cm(3)/cm(2) center dot S center dot cmHg respectively. A mass transfer analysis involving Sherwood correlations was used to calculate the theoretical boundary layer resistance. The comparison of overall mass transfer coefficient with the boundary layer coefficients suggests that the membrane was the dominant resistance for this system.