Hydrocarbons acetate membranes

Nonpolar Parameters. In a reverse osmosis system involving cellulose acetate membranes and aqueous solutions of hydrocarbon solutes, the adsorption of water and that of solute on the polar and nonpolar sites of the membrane surface respectively may be expected to take place essentially independently. Further, since the polymer-solute interaction forces are attractive in nature for the above case, the mobility of the solute molecules through the membrane pore is retarded, and they also tend to agglomerate... 

Figure 8. Experimental data on the effect of (a) Taft s steric parameter for ethers and (b) modified Small s number for hydrocarbons on their reverse osmosis separations in systems involving dilute aqueous solutions and cellulose acetate membranes...

Gas Dehydration. It has been found that water vapor permeates cellulose acetate membranes at a rate approximately 500 times that of methane (Ref. 2). This exceptionally high selectivity for water vapor make cellulose acetate membrane systems attractive for dehydration of hydrocarbon gas streams to pipeline specifications on either a pure gas stream or while simultaneously removing contaminating acid gases. For these applications the small size, low weight and low maintenance of the SEPAREX system is particularly advantageous for offshore installations. 

It is to this topic of solute preferential sorption in reverse osmosis that this paper is dedicated. Specifically, this discussion will involve a description of solute preferential sorption, an overview of the literature in the area, and finally a presentation of some recent work on the removal of aromatic hydrocarbons from water. The significance of this work is at least two-fold. From a practical point of view the classes of solutes which demonstrate preferential attraction to the membrane material tend to be organic compounds and the removal and recovery of these solutes from water is environmentally and economically important. From a theoretical point of view an understanding of the phenomena involved is essential to the achievement of a fundamental description of the RO process. Although this paper deals solely with aqueous solutions and cellulose acetate membranes, it Is important to recognize that the concepts discussed can be extended to Include other membrane materials and non-aqueous systems. 

The list of solutes that are known to be preferentially sorbed by cellulose acetate membranes includes many alcohols, phenols, un-lonlzed carboxylic acids and hydrocarbons ( ). Although solute preferential sorption is a common occurrence with a number of important aqueous organic systems little experimental or quantitative work has appeared in the literature. The purpose of the current work is to rectify this situation. 

On the other hand, for a hydrocarbon solute such as benzene, the nonpolar forces predominate. The cellulose acetate membrane material has a nonpolar character due to its carbon backbone. 

Black L (1989), Selective permeation of aromatic hydrocarbons through polyethylene glycol impregnated regenerated cellulose or cellulose acetate membrane,... 

Sensitivity Towards Chemicals. The polymer may be sensitive to some chemicals (hydrocarbons, dehydration solvents such as glycols) or even water when in excess. For instance, the presence of excess liquid water can lead to the collapse of dried cellulose acetate membranes. That is why a pre-treatment of natural gas, such as a dew-pointing operation, is sometimes required before a membrane-based carbon dioxide removal operation. 

Matsuura, T., and Sourirajan, S. (1973a). Reverse osmosis separation of hydrocarbons in aqueous-solutions using porous cellulose-acetate membranes. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 17(12), 3683-3708. 

In Sittt Filter Membranes In situ membranes are being fitted into incinerator flue-gas stacks in an attempt to reduce hydrocarbon emissions. Two types of commercially available gas separation membranes are being stndied (I) flat cellnlose acetate sheets and (2) hoUow-tnbe fiber modules made of polyamides. 

This technique has been applied to the concentration of organochlorine and organophosphorus insecticide [7,8] and various ethers, glycols amines, nitriles, hydrocarbons, and chlorinated hydrocarbons. Although this work was concerned with drinking water, it is a useful technique which may have application in seawater analysis. Cellulose acetate [9], ethyl cellulose acetate [6], and crosslinked polyethyleneinine [8] have been used as semi-permeable membranes. 

Cellulose esters (e.g., cellulose triacetate, cellulose diacetate, cellulose propionate, and cellulose butyrate) are prepared by initially treating cellulose with glacial acetic acid (or propionic acid and butyric acid) followed by the corresponding acid anhydride with a trace of strong acid as a catalyst in chlorinated hydrocarbon. Complete esterification reactions result in the formation of a triester, which undergoes water hydrolysis to form a diester. Cellulose acetate alone or in combination with cellulose triacetate or cellulose butyrate is used as a semipermeable membrane for osmotic pumping tablets, primarily in controlled release systems. The permeability of the membrane can be further modulated by adding water-soluble excipients to the cellulose esters. 

Thus, the lipid biosynthetic enzyme system evolved in extreme halophiles to utilize the (halophilic) mevalonate pathway for synthesis of virtually all of its hydrocarbon (isoprenoid/isopranoid) chains, rather than the (non-halophilic) fatty-acid synthetase system which was retained only for synthesis of normal fatty acid chains required for incorporation into proteins of the red membrane (Pugh and Kates, unpublished data). Starting from acetate and involving lysine, which provides the branch-methyl and methine carbons [88]), the mevalonate pathway proceeds to geranylgeranyl-PP (GG-PP) [13,15,89] as follows ... 

In oil processing, separation of aromatic isomers Cg (ethylbenzene 7b= 136°C,p-xylene 7b= 138.3°C, m-xylene Ty, = 139.1°C, >-xylene T], = 144.4°C) is required. According to the literary data, the following isomers of hydrocarbons are separated p-xylene/m-xylene, p-xylene/o-xylene, -hexane/2,2-dimethylbutane, -hexane/3-methylpentane, and n-butane/f-butane [8,83,130-137]. Pervaporation method is the most effective for this purpose. To separate the isomers, membranes based on various polymers were used. Good separation for aU isomer mixtures was attained by the polyimide Kapton film (fip = 1.43-2.18) but parylene films and cellulose acetate also exhibited a relatively high separation factor (fip = 1.22-1.56 and /3p = 1.23-1.56, respectively). Temperatures >200°C were required to obtain a reasonable flux through the polyimide film and a pressure of about 20 atm was necessary to keep the feed stream liquid [8]. 

Both anion and cation hydrocarbon-type exchange membranes (styrene-divinyl-benzene copolymer type) are generally stable in ordinary concentrations of acid solutions (about 40% sulfuric acid, 10% hydrochloric acid, 20% nitric acid, 50% acetic acid) and in alkali solutions such as sodium hydroxide (5%), ammonia (4%), etc.64 However, ion exchange membranes using ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, sulfoethyl methacrylate, and other acrylic and methacrylic esters, are less stable than styrene-divinylbenzene type membranes. 

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