Optimization and modeling of the performance of polydimethylsiloxane for pervaporation of ethanol-water mixture

Response surface methodology was used to optimize the performance of pervaporation of ethanol aqueous solution using polydimethylsiloxane hollow-fiber membrane. The effects of four operating conditions, that is, the feed temperature (30-50 degrees C), the feed flow rate (10-50 L/h), ethanol concentration (5-20 wt%), and the vacuum pressure (10-50 KPa) on the membrane selectivity and the total flux of permeation were investigated with response surface methodology. The results showed that a quadratic model was suggested for both selectivity and total flux showing a high accuracy with R-2 = 0.9999 and 0.9995, respectively. The developed models indicated a significant effect of the four studied factors on both selectivity and total flux with some significant interactions between these factors. The optimum selectivity was 15.56, achieved for a feed temperature of 30 degrees C, feed flow rate of 10 L/h, ethanol concentration of 15 wt%, and a permeate pressure of 10.74 KPa whereas the optimum total flux was 1833.66 g/m(2).h was observed for at a feed temperature of 50 degrees C, a feed flow rate of 50 L/h, ethanol concentration of 15 wt%, and a permeate pressure of 49.38 KPa.