Comparison of the separation of mixtures by vapor permeation and by pervaporation using PVA composite membranes. II. The binary systems ammonia-water, methylamine-water, 1-propanol-methanol and the ternary system 1-propanol-methanol-water

Experimental study of vapor permeation fluxes and separation diagrams of the mixtures 1-propanol-methanol-water and 1-propanol-methanol has been performed using a vapor permeation apparatus on a laboratory scale equipped with the hydrophilic PVA-PAN composite membrane produced by GFT mbH (Neunkirchen-Heinitz, Germany). Furthermore, the vapor permeation of the binary systems ammonia-water and methylamine-water has been investigated using a new, amine resistant PVA-Polysulfon-Ryton composite membrane also manufactured by GFT mbH. With the exception of the non-aqueous system 1-propanol-methanol the separation factors and transmembrane fluxes obtained for the binary systems are sufficiently high for practical applications. In case of the ternary mixture vapor permeation also shows a much better separation result than pervaporation and a quite high flux.