Abstract
This paper describes the enhancement of hydrocarbon (HC) permeation through liquid emulsion membranes consisting of water, an emulsifying agent and a polar additive such as sulfolane or triethylene glycol (TEG).
The addition of sulfolane caused both an increase in membrane breakup and a decrease in mechanical entrainment. Moreover, sulfolane considerably enhanced the permeation of HCs, although selectivity decreased with increasing sulfolane concentration. When the volume fraction of sulfolane in membrane solution was 0.35, a yield of 73 % for BTX was obtained during as short a contact period as ten seconds in the presence of Span 20 at 0.3 wt % in the solvent phase. Permeation enhancement by TEG was lower than that by sulfolane.
