Recent advances in VOCs removal from water by pervaporation.

Pervaporation (PV) is a separation process in which minor components of a liquid mixture are preferentially transported by partial vaporization through a non-porous permselective (selectively permeable) membrane. PV is an emerging technology in environment cleanup operations, especially in the removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from industrial wastewaters or contaminated groundwaters. Current state of PV membrane development in VOC removal and improvement in process engineering, and better understanding of the interactions between VOCs and membrane materials are reviewed. Among PV process parameters documented here are process temperature, permeate pressure, feed concentration, and feed flow rate. The effects of these parameters on PV selectivity and permeation flux have been studied extensively and these studies have borne fruit in a better understanding of many aspects of PV processes. The challenge in implementing PV in practical operations lies in the further enhancement of membrane quality for specific VOCs as well as improved management and control of possible adverse hurdles coming from real systems. Copyright 2003 Elsevier Science B.V.