TY - JOUR AU - Muvdi Nova, Carlos Jesús AU - Barón Núñez, Fredy Wsvaldo AU - Cotamo De la Espriella, Ricardo Javier PY - 2015/12/15 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Operating conditions influence on VMD and SGMD for ethanol recovery from aqueous solutions JF - CT&F - Ciencia, Tecnología y Futuro JA - CT&F Cienc. Tecnol. Futuro VL - 6 IS - 2 SE - Scientific and Technological Research Articles DO - 10.29047/01225383.21 UR - https://ctyf.journal.ecopetrol.com.co/index.php/ctyf/article/view/349 SP - 69-80 AB - <p>This work focuses on Vacuum Membrane Distillation (VMD) and Sweeping Gas Membrane Distillation (SGMD) as a separating technique of ethanol from aqueous solutions. VMD was studied at moderate temperature (30, 40 and 50°C) and pressure (0.11, 0.20 and 0.30 atm) conditions, whereas SGMD was studied at different temperatures (50 and 70°C) and air-flow rates (10x10<sup>-6</sup> and 20x10<sup>-6</sup> m<sup>3</sup>.min<sup>-1</sup>). These techniques were experimentally studied using prepared ethanol-water solutions and fermented broths, with ethanol at 10% w/w. Under these operating conditions and using prepared ethanol-water solutions, an average total flux of 22.61 and 1.6 kg.m<sup>-2</sup>.h<sup>-1</sup>, and concentration factors of 2.3 and 1.7 were obtained for VMD and SGMD, respectively. For fermented broths, total flux of 17.66 and 0.9 kg.m<sup>-2</sup>.h<sup>-1</sup>, and concentration factors of 1.8 and 1.9 were obtained for VMD and SGMD, respectively. The fouling impact was also studied, finding a significant effect of pressure (vacuum) for VMD technique; mainly due to the biomass presence in the solution. Experimental results show that applying pressurization/depressurization cycles decreases membrane fouling, stabilizing flux and concentration in the permeate. While for SGMD configuration, the incidence of fouling was significantly lower.</p> ER -