NOVEL PERVAPORATION SYSTEM FOR RECOVERY OF ORGANICS FROM HAZARDOUS WASTE STREAMS

The U.S. chemical industry accounts for over 200 million tons/year of hazardousliquid waste containing organic chemicals. These waste streams are difficult totreat using conventional technologies such as carbon adsorption and steamstripping. Membrane processes--particularly pervaporation--offer energy and costadvantages over conventional techniques. However, current pervaporationmembrane-module designs limit the driving force for organic removal, modulematerials are damaged by the organics, and module costs are high.Bend Research is now pursuing development of a novel pervaporation module designfor this application. A key component is a solvent-resistant pervaporationmodule that overcomes the drawbacks of current pervaporation modules. This low-cost module is the kof dischargeable water while economically recovering a concentrated organicstream for further separation or direct re-use. Preliminary tests and modelingindicate that this system has operating advantages that will make it cost-effective for treatment ofThe Phase I goal is to demonstrate the feasibility of their approach by makingand testing small-scale hollow-fiver pervaporation modules based on solvent-resistant materials. Thin the new system design, identifying the operating conditions and parametersthat maximize performance.