title: A carbon nanotube filled polydimethylsiloxane hybrid membrane for enhanced butanol recovery.
abstract: The carbon nanotubes (CNTs) filled polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) hybrid membrane was fabricated to evaluate its potential for butanol recovery from acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation broth. Compared with the homogeneous PDMS membrane, the CNTs filled into the PDMS membrane were beneficial for the improvement of butanol recovery in butanol flux and separation factor. The CNTs acting as sorption-active sites with super hydrophobicity could give an alternative route for mass transport through the inner tubes or along the smooth surface. The maximum total flux and butanol separation factor reached up to 244.3 g/m(2)·h and 32.9, respectively, when the PDMS membrane filled with 10 wt% CNTs was used to separate butanol from the butanol/water solution at 80°C. In addition, the butanol flux and separation factor increased dramatically as temperature increased from 30°C to 80°C in feed solution since the higher temperature produced more free volumes in polymer chains to facilitate butanol permeation. A similar increase was also observed when butanol titer in solution increased from 10 g/L to 25 g/L. Overall, the CNTs/PDMS hybrid membrane with higher butanol flux and selectivity should have good potential for pervaporation separation of butanol from ABE fermentation broth.
authors: 1] School of Life Science and Biotechnology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China [2].
authors: Chuang
authors: C
authors: Xue
authors: 1] School of Life Science and Biotechnology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China [2].
authors: Guang-Qing
authors: GQ
authors: Du
authors: School of Life Science and Biotechnology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China.
authors: Li-Jie
authors: LJ
authors: Chen
authors: School of Life Science and Biotechnology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China.
authors: Jian-Gang
authors: JG
authors: Ren
authors: Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Ohio State Univeristy, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA.
authors: Jian-Xin
authors: JX
authors: Sun
authors: School of Life Science and Biotechnology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China.
authors: Feng-Wu
authors: FW
authors: Bai
authors: 1] School of Life Science and Biotechnology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China [2] Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Ohio State Univeristy, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA.
authors: Shang-Tian
authors: ST
authors: Yang