Separation characteristics of alcohol from aqueous solution by ultrasonic atomization

• The alcohol concentration in atomized droplets is evaluated.
• At low concentration in bulk solution, the concentration in droplets is lower than that in vapors.
• At high concentration, the concentration in droplets exceeds that in vapors.
• Compared with methanol, the concentration in droplets for ethanol is high.
• The concentration in droplets depends on the amount of alcohol-rich clusters in bulk solution.

The generation rate of ultrasonically atomized droplets and the alcohol concentration in droplets were estimated by measuring the flow rate and the alcohol concentration of vapors from a bulk solution with a fountain. The effect of the alcohol concentration in the bulk solution on the generation rate of droplets and the alcohol concentration in droplets were investigated. The ultrasonic frequency was 2.4 MHz, and ethanol and methanol aqueous solutions were used as samples. The generation rate of droplets for ethanol was smaller than that for methanol at the same alcohol molar fraction in the bulk solution. For both solutions, at low alcohol concentration in the bulk solution, the alcohol concentration in droplets was lower than that in vapors and the atomized droplets were visible. On the other side, at high concentration, the concentration in droplets exceeded that in vapors and the atomized droplets became invisible. These results could be explained that the alcohol-rich clusters in the bulk solution were preferentially atomized by ultrasonic irradiation. The concentration in droplets for ethanol was higher than that for methanol at low alcohol concentration because the amount of alcohol-rich clusters was larger. When the alcohol molar fraction was greater than 0.6, the atomized droplets almost consisted of pure alcohol.