Research Progress of Pervaporation Membrane for Biobutanol Separation

Abstract:

Separating butanol from fermentation broth is an urgent problem to be solved in its industrialization and application. We compared different separation techniques which can be coupled with fermentation process according to their separation performance and economic efficiency and pointed out the advantages of pervaporation. Then we reviewed the recent advances in pervaporation membrane materials used in the separation of biobutanol. which focused on the separation performance of the polymer membranes and the corresponding modified polymer membranes, such as PDMS, PTMSP and their modification. Moreover, we also summarized the performance of the supported liquid membranes used in the separation of biobutanol and their stability issues. The effects of some other compositions in the fermentation broth, such as solvent, intermediate, and biomacromolecule, on the separation performance were analyzed as well. At last, future prospects of the pervaporation membrane for biobutanol were proposed.