Design and Performance of Ethanol Purification Tests Using Poly Ether Sulfone Composite Membrane in The Membrane Pervaporation Process

Abstract

The pervaporation process in the context of ethanol purification is a promising and rapidly developing technology. This is supported by various advantages possessed by pervaporation i.e. do not need additional chemicals, the process is simpler, and does not cause environmental pollution. The purpose of this research is to test the performance of pervaporation design and determine the optimal conditions in the ethanol purification process using a poly-ether-sulfone composite membrane with a coating of 3% alginate & 3% chitosan. This study used two treatments. The first treatment is the temperature of pre-heating in the feed section consisting of 63.64, 67.83, and 72.01 °C. The second treatment is a downstream pressure consisting of 41.325, 46.325, and 51.325 abs kPa. The process was carried out for 40 minutes with a batch system and ethanol feed concentration of 68.05% (w/t). The results showed the highest ethanol concentration was obtained at operating conditions pre heating feed 72.01 °C and downstream pressure of 51.325 abs kPa with ethanol concentration of 82.84% (w/t). The best conditions will be controlled using a non-coating composite membrane and the increase in ethanol concentration in the permeate section is 76.34% (w/t).