Aromatic-selective membrane reduces benzene content in fuels

19-Aug-2004

Nearly benzene-free fuel thanks to innovative, molecular designed pervaporation membranes is getting closer in the short term: The PolyAn company in Berlin has tested a novel pervaporation membrane together with Aral Aromatics, a leading aromatics manufacturer, in a technical pilot plant, which separates aromatics from aliphatics on an industrial scale. Sulzer Chemtech, a leading supplier of pervaporation plants, supported the project as a partner with module and plant know-how. After 10 months running time under real operating conditions, long-term stability and a very good performance of the membrane was demonstrated. These results of the world's unique application will be presented for the first time at the Euromembrane from 28th September to 1st October 2004 in Hamburg.

The clear demand of the market and legislation are forcing the petrochemical industry to continuously improve the purity of their products and fuels. The purification of organic fluids is carried out with high performance pervaporation membranes from PolyAn. The MSE-technology from PolyAn immobilizes covalently functional polymer films on commercially available membranes. These composite membranes are mechanically stable, highly selective and permeable. The pervaporation process is not only more cost-effective and energy-conserving than conventional separating methods but also more efficient and reliable.

The development of the membranes for separating cancerogenic benzene from fuels as well as the pilot project are financially supported by the German Federal Foundation for the Environment. "A significant environmental problem has been tackled together - by private companies and a federal foundation. A technological innovation has resulted from this effort, which was tested practically with a pilot plant under normal operating conditions and is now ready for the market", explained Heike Matuschewski, divisional manager for MSE, project management for pervaporation. Klaus-Dieter Westermann from Aral Aromatics added: "We are very pleased about the good and informative collaboration with PolyAn. The results of the operating phase over 10 months have completely dispelled our initial scepticism and convinced us of the operability of the process."

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/39149/aromatic-selective-membrane-reduces-benzene-content-in-fuels.html