Selective recovery of acetone-butanol-ethanol from aqueous mixture by pervaporation using immobilized ionic liquid polydimethylsiloxane membrane

An effective in situ recovery of acetone, butanol and ethanol (ABE) from fermentation broth is requisite to overcome the low productivity of ABE production. Pervaporation has proven to be one of the best methods for recovering ABE from fermentation broth. We fabricated an immobilized ionic liquid-polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane in which a [Tf2N]− based ionic liquid covalently bound to the PDMS backbone polymer and used it to recover ABE from aqueous solution by pervaporation. Permeate flux of immobilized IL-PDMS membrane was 7.8 times higher than that of conventional supported IL-PDMS membrane (where ILs are physically absorbed on the supported membrane). Butanol enrichment factor of immobilized IL-PDMS membrane was three-times higher than that of PDMS membrane. In addition, high enrichment factor both to acetone and ethanol as well as high operational stability of immobilized IL-PDMS membrane can enhance the efficacy of ABE recovery by employing this membrane.