Selective Transport of Propylene by Silver Ion Complex Through an Immobilized Liquid Membrane

The separation of hydrocarbon mixture using facilitated transport membrane (an immobilized liquid membrane type) was investigated. A 50:50 (vol. %) propylene-propane mixture was used as a sample of the hydrocarbon mixture. The effect of trans-membrane pressure (in the range of 50-120 kPa) and carrier concentration (in the range of 0-20 wt.% AgNO3) on separation performance was studied experimentally and mathematically. It was observed that increasing trans-membrane pressure and carrier concentration supports the separation factor and propylene permeation rate. On the other hand, increasing trans-membrane pressure and decreasing carrier concentration supports the propane permeation rate. Hence, the greater the trans-membrane pressure and carrier concentration, the more purified the product obtained. It was found that at trans-membrane pressure of 120kPa and carrier concentration of 20wt. %, the highest separation factor (270) and propylene permeation rate (7*10-7mol/s) was obtained. The average deviation between the experimental and modeling results was found to be 5.3% for propylene permeation rate and 0.03% for propane permeation rate.