Pervaporation of flavors with hydrophobic membrane

Abstract

Using a pervaporation process, a surface-modified hydrophobic membrane was used for recovery of esters which are volatile organic flavor compounds; ethyl acetate (EA), propyl acetate (PA), and butyl acetate (BA). A surface-modified tube-type membrane was used to evaluate the effects of the feed concentration (0.15–0.60 wt%) and feed temperature (30–50 °C) on the separation of EA, PA, and BA from dilute aqueous solutions. The permeation flux increased with the increasing feed ester concentration and operating temperature. EA, PA, and BA in the permeate were concentrated up to 9.13–32.26, 11.44–34.95, and 14.96–36.37 wt%, respectively. The enrichment factors for the 0.15–0.60 wt% feed solution of EA and BA were in the range of 48.5-62.8 and 97.7-101.5, respectively. Phase separation occurred in the permeate stream because the ester concentration in the permeate was above the saturation limit. This meant that selectivity of the membrane was high enough for the recovery of esters from dilute aqueous solution, even though the enrichment factor of the membrane was lower than that of non-porous PDMS membrane. The fluxes of EA, PA, and BA at 0.60 wt% (6,000 ppm) feed concentration and 40 °C were 254, 296, and 318 g/m2.hr, which are much higher than those obtained with polymer membranes. In the case of non-porous PDMS at feed concentrations of 90-4,800 ppm and at 45 °C, it was reported that the permeate flux of EA was 1.1–5.8 g/m2.h. Compared to non-porous PDMS, the surface-modified membrane investigated in this study showed a much higher flux and enough selectivity of esters.