Abstract

Azam Marjani* and Saeed Shirazian

Purification of hydrocarbon mixtures is studied in this work theoretically. The purification technology considered in this work is Pervaporation. Pervaporation (PV) is a membrane technology which utilizes a dense membrane for separation. The governing mechanism in separation using PV is solution-diffusion mechanism. To study the transport of species through PV membranes, a comprehensive mathematical model was developed. Separation of toluene and n-heptane in a PV batch was investigated in this work. Conservation equations including continuity, momentum, and heat transfer equations were solved using finite element method (FEM). The modeling results also presented temperature profile and Reynolds number in the membrane module. The simulation results revealed that the developed model could provide a general simulation of transport through PV membranes.

Mass transfer; Hydrocarbon purification; Numerical simulation; CFD; Membrane

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