Pervaporation methyl ethyl ketone

Smetana JF, Falconer JL, and Noble RD. Separation of methyl ethyl ketone from water by pervaporation using a sihcahte membrane. J Membr Sci 1996 114 127-130. 

ThiyagarajanR, RaviS, BhattacharyaPK. 2011. Pervaporation of methyl-ethyl ketone and water mixture Determination of concentration profile. Desalination 277 178-186. 

Efficient enzymatic conversion can be achieved even though most of the reactants are present as solids, provided that there is a liquid phase in which the reaction can occur. This approach has been successfully used for carbohydrate ester synthesis with synthesis of glucose esters of fatty acids between C12 and C18 as typical examples [34]. It is important that the substrates dissolve during the reaction, and often the products precipitate as they are formed, which can be an advantage due to a favourable effect on the equilibrium position. Candida antarctica lipase B is an efficient catalyst in this system and solvents used (in moderate amounts) include ethyl methyl ketone, acetone or dioxane. In order to increase the ester yield, water formed in the reaction can be removed by azeotropic distillation and the solvent (e.g. ethyl metyl ketone) can after condensation be dried by pervaporation, giving a practically useful complete process [35]. 

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