Experimental data based modelling and simulation of isopropanol dehydration by pervaporation

A simulation tool is developed in order to support the operation of an industrial scale hybrid distillation–pervaporation system that is used to regenerate isopropanol. Laboratory-scale experiments were carried out to determine the parameters of a semi-empirical solution–diffusion membrane transport model that is used for the modelling of the pervaporation transport. Isotherm experiments were made at three different temperatures (60, 80, 90°C) using a hydrophilic flat sheet membrane (PERVAP 2210, Sulzer Chemtech). The permeate fluxes and compositions were measured at different constant feed compositions. The parameters of the applied transport model were fitted to the experimental data. For simulating the pervaporation apparatus, an earlier developed user added pervaporation module within the ChemCad software package was applied. The user added module and the fitted transport model parameters were used for the simulation of our measured laboratory-scale data. Simulation of the industrial scale distillation pervaporation hybrid system was also carried out. The simulated and measured data were compared.