Recent advances in pervaporation hollow fiber membranes for dehydration of organics

Pervaporation (PV) has been potentially identified as a candidate in replacing the conven-tional distillation since it possesses the ability to separate azeotropic solvent mixtures. At a large scale, PV has been mainly involved within hybrid processes for the dehydration of organics toward their purification. Considering that the membrane is the primary separation barrier, "membranologists" are currently seeking for suitable membranes that can be effective for industrial applications. In this regard, due to its minimal fouling and large effective surface area, hollow fiber configuration is recognized as the most advantageous geometry in comparison with flat sheet or tubular modules. Therefore, the goal of this review paper is to provide an outlook on the studies available so far focusing on the use of hollow fiber membranes for the dehydration of organics by PV. By fully reviewing the literature, the main attention is paid to such works that release relevant insights into new membrane concepts and their performance, together with some brief fundamentals of PV technology. The concluding remarks, future trends and recommendations to the new researchers are also given. (c) 2020 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.