Effect of Laminar Pulsatile Fluid Flow on Separation of Volatile Organic Compounds from Aqueous Solution by a Hollow Fiber Membrane-Based Process

In this study, a laminar pulsatile fluid flow was used for the separation of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene isomers (BTEX) from aqueous solutions. Polyether sulfone hollow fiber membrane has been applied to this process. The effects of BTEX concentration, and feed and extraction flow rates were examined. It was found that the application of the pulsatile fluid flow with the frequency of 0.5 Hz improved the separation process significantly, and the removal efficiency increased more than twice. Moreover, the results showed that BTEX separation under pulsatile fluid flow was affected by the feed flow rate, extraction flow rate, and the BTEX concentration, as well.