Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers 40 (2009) 511517

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Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers

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A novel separation process for olen gas purication: Effect of operating

parameters on separation performance and process optimization
Maryam Takht Ravanchi a,b, Tahereh Kaghazchi a,*, Ali Kargari a, Mansoureh Soleimani a
a
Department of Chemical Engineering, Center of Excellence for Petrochemical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), No. 424, Hafez Ave.,
PO Box 15875-4413, Tehran, Iran
b
National Petrochemical Company, Research and Technology Co., No. 12, Sarv Alley, Shirazi South Street, Molla Sadra Ave., PO Box 14358-8471, Tehran, Iran

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article history: Separation of propylenepropane mixtures using facilitated transport membrane is potentially a novel
Received 20 June 2008 separation process for olen gas purication. The main purpose of this study was to nd optimum values
Received in revised form 17 February 2009 of the process parameters using the Taguchi approach. The Taguchi method was selected as the
Accepted 18 February 2009
statistical technique since it allows the main effects to be estimated with a minimum number of
experimental runs. Moreover, it makes use of fractional factorial and orthogonal arrays to identify the
Keywords: factors and the optimum factor setting for each experimental run. Trans-membrane pressure and carrier
Facilitated transport membrane
concentration were two inuential parameters that affect the separation performance of the present
Propylene
membrane system. These control factors in three levels were considered in the Taguchi analysis. L9
Propane
Silver nitrate orthogonal array has been used to determine the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio. Analysis of variance
Taguchi analysis (ANOVA) was used to determine the optimum conditions. It indicated that carrier concentration has the
ANOVA most contribution (72%) in the membrane separation of propylenepropane mixture. Moreover, to
achieve an optimum operating condition, trans-membrane pressure and carrier concentration should be
set at 120 kPa and 20 wt.%, respectively. According to the Taguchi approach, by setting control factors at
optimum values a product with 99.801 (vol.%) propylene was obtained. A verication test was also
performed to check the optimum condition. Experimental results conrmed optimum values obtained
by the Taguchi analysis and showed that at optimum operating conditions, a product with 99.63 (vol.%)
propylene was obtained.
2009 Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction and physical or chemical absorption (Bryan, 2004; Eldridge, 1993).

In the petrochemical industry, olens such as ethylene and
propylene are the most important chemicals used for the
production of polyethylene, polypropylene, styrene, ethyl benzene,
ethylene dichloride, acrylonitrile, and isopropanol. Various petro-
chemical streams contain olen and other saturated hydrocarbons.
These streams typically originate from steam cracking units
(ethylene production), catalytic cracking units (motor gasoline
production), or the dehydrogenation of parafns (Agam et al.,
2001; Meyers, 1986). An important step in the manufacture of
olens is large-scale separation of the olen from the correspond-
ing parafn.
During the years, different processes have been used for the
separation of olenparafn mixtures, such as low-temperature
distillation, extractive distillation, physical or chemical adsorption
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +98 21 64543152; fax: +98 21 66405847.
E-mail address: Kaghazch@aut.ac.ir (T. Kaghazchi).
Currently, this separation is carried out by cryogenic distillation,
which is highly energy-intensive due to the cryogenic tempera-
tures required for the process and low relative volatilities of
components. Distillation columns are often up to 300 ft tall and
typically contain over 200 trays. With reux ratios greater than 10,
a very high energy input is required for the distillation process.
This large capital expense and energy cost have created incentive
for extensive research in this area of separations.
Nowadays, membrane technologies are becoming more fre-
quently used for the separation of wide varying mixtures in the
petrochemical-related industries. The range of applications covers
the supply of pure or enriched gases such as He, N2 and O2 from air,
the separation of acid gases such as CO2 and H2S, the separation of H2
in the petrochemical and chemical industries, the separation of gold
and mercury from industrial wastes and the separation of
hydrocarbons. An overview of various types of membrane processes
can be found in the literature (Baker, 2002, 2004; Kaghazchi et al.,
2006; Kargari et al., 2004a, 2006a,b; Mohammadi et al., 2008;
Mulder, 1996; Nabieyan et al., 2007; Takht Ravanchi et al., 2009).

1876-1070/$ see front matter 2009 Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jtice.2009.02.007
512 M. Takht Ravanchi et al. / Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers 40 (2009) 511517

Table 1
Nomenclature C3H6/C3H8 permeation data in solid polymer electrolyte membranes.

Membranea Separation factor Reference

C concentration
n number of experiments
SP separation percent
S/N signal-to-noise ratio
y response at each experiment
For the separation of olenparafn mixtures, membrane
separation technology has been proposed as an alternative to
distillation because of its low cost and simple operation. However,
the separation of olen/parafn mixtures using conventional
polymeric membranes has not been effective because the physico-
chemical properties of olens and parafns such as their molecular
size and solubility are largely indistinguishable (Kim et al., 2004;
Semenova, 2004). Results obtained by researchers (Bai et al., 1998;
Burns and Koros, 2003; Krol et al., 2001; Sridhar and Khan, 1999;
Staudt-Bickel and Koros, 2000; Tanaka et al., 1996) show that the
application of such membranes is not attractive for industrial
purposes because of the relatively low separation factors obtained.
Currently, the best polymeric membranes exhibit propylene/
propane separation factors of less than 10 which is still insufcient
for practical use.
A very effective way to increase the membrane selectivity is to
incorporate some carrier in the membrane. This type of membrane
is called facilitated transport membrane. The most commonly used
facilitated transport membrane types are immobilized liquid
membranes (ILMs) and solvent-swollen xed-site carrier mem-
branes. ILMs, which are also named supported liquid membranes
(SLMs), are made by impregnating a microporous membrane with
a solution containing the carrier. The carrier solution is held within
the pores of the membrane by capillary forces (Cussler, 1994;
Teramoto et al., 1986). Nonporous solvent-swollen xed-site
carrier membranes have been used to improve the mechanical
stability of facilitated transport membranes. Water-swollen xed-
site carrier membranes exhibit excellent separation properties.
However, unless water and/or plasticizers, such as glycerin, are
present in the polymeric membrane matrix, tight ion-paring of the
silver salt occurs, resulting in very low mobility of the carrier
species and, consequently, very low gas uxes. As a result, xed-
site carrier membranes must be operated continuously in a water-
vapor-saturated environment. Solid polymer electrolytes are an
alternative type of facilitated transport membrane (Pinnau et al.,
1997). In these systems, the salt dissolves in a polymer matrix in
the solid state and dissociates into anions and cations. The
essential feature that distinguishes a solid polymer electrolyte
from polymer/salt systems based on xed-site carrier membranes
is that ionic motions in a solid polymer electrolyte take place
without a solvent or plasticizer being present (Kang et al., 2006).
Some of the results of propylenepropane separation using solid
polymer electrolyte membranes are summarized in Table 1.
Separation of propylenepropane mixture using a supported
liquid membrane, which is the subject of the present study, is a
noble research area.
In facilitated transport membranes, trans-membrane pressure
and carrier concentration are two signicant parameters that
control the membrane separation performance. In this paper, the
effect of these inuential parameters on the membrane perfor-
mance for the separation of propylenepropane mixtures was
studied experimentally and via Taguchi approach.
As most of the petrochemical propylenepropane mixtures are
50:50 (vol.%), in this study, separation of a 50:50 (vol.%)
propylenepropane at room temperature (298  5 K) was investi-
gated.
PMMA/AgBF4 40b Kim et al. (2003)
PBMA/AgBF4 35b Kim et al. (2003)
PVP/AgBF4 50b Kim et al. (2003)
POZ/AgBF4 48b Kim et al. (2003)
PVMK/AgBF4 54b Kim et al. (2000)
PEOx/AgBF4 58b Yoon et al. (2000)
PVA/AgSbF6 130 Kim et al. (2002)
PAAm/AgBF4 170b Park et al. (2001)
a
A detailed chemical description of the abbreviations used for polymer materials
is given in Takht Ravanchi et al. (2009).
b
Feed mixture: 50 vol.% propylene, 50 vol.% propane.
2. Facilitated transport mechanism
It is reported that some transition metals react reversibly and
selectively with olens in the solution. The ability of the transition
metal ion as a carrier is largely dependant on the intensity of the p
complexation with olen. Metal electronegativity and lattice
energy of the transition metal salt are two parameters that affect
the intensity of this reversible reaction. If the electronegativity of
the metal is so high, the metal is not suitable for the facilitated
carrier because it is susceptible to irreversible reaction with the p
electrons of the alkene. If the electronegativity is too low, the metal
is impractical as a carrier due to its weak interaction with the
alkene. It was investigated that the preferred electronegativity for
metal is in the range of 1.62.3 (Kang et al., 2001; Takht Ravanchi
et al., 2009).
To increase the reversible reactivity of the transition metal ion
with the alkene, the anion of the transition metal plays an important
role in determining the intensity and the rate of the interaction
between a carrier and alkene. With the lower lattice energy of the
transition metal salt, the anion forms a weak ionic bond or ion pair
with the cation. It is preferable to select the anion of the transition
metal salt that has low lattice energy with respect to the cation. It is
reported that the preferable metal salt for facilitated transport must
have lattice energy of less than 2500 kJ/mol, by which the tendency
of the interaction between anion and cation in the metal salt can be
reduced.
Facilitated transport of olen is shown in Fig. 1. Olen is
complexed with a complexing agent (Ag+) incorporated in the
membrane at high-pressure side. The complex diffuses owing to its
concentration difference across the membrane from the high-
pressure side to the low-pressure side, where decomplexation
Fig. 1. Facilitated transport mechanism in membrane separation.
 M. Takht Ravanchi et al. / Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers 40 (2009) 511517
Table 2
The detailed analysis of feed gases.
Component Propylene
N2
CH4 <1 ppm
C2H6 <1 ppm
C2H4 <1 ppm
C3H8 2622 ppm
C3H6 99.74 mole%
takes place to release the olen. The complexing agent regenerated
from the decomplexation, diffuses back to the high-pressure side
due to its concentration difference between the low- and high-
pressure sides. This completes a facilitated transport cycle, and the
complexing agent repeats the cycles. Because of the complexation,
the concentration of the olen in the membrane is increased, and
the transport of the olen is thus facilitated. On the other hand,
parafn cannot complex with the complexing agent, and the
majority of the parafn is thus rejected by the membrane. The
concentration of the parafn in the membrane is small by physical
solubility, and its transport rate through the membrane is thus low.
Therefore, the facilitated transport membrane can give a high
olen/parafn selectivity to yield permeate with high olen purity.
Among various transition metal ions, silver ion was selected as
propylene carrier according to two criteria, i.e. its electronegativity
and its salts lattice energy. As the main goal of this paper is to
propose a substitute process for cryogenic distillation of propy-
lenepropane mixture and this process must be economically
feasible, silver nitrate (AgNO3) was selected as carrier salt for
propylene.
3. Experiments
3.1. Chemicals
Industrial grade propylene from Tabriz Petrochemical Company
and industrial grade propane from Tehran Renery Complex were
used as feed gases and pure nitrogen was used as sweep gas. The
detailed analysis of the feed gases is presented in Table 2.
Silver nitrate (AgNO3, GR Pro Analysis) which was purchased
from Merck Co. was used as the carrier of propylene. An aqueous
solution of silver nitrate was prepared by dissolving silver nitrate
in deionized water. All chemicals were used without further
purication.
Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of the supported liquid membrane system.
513
Propane
5 ppm
545 ppm
1 ppm
99.79 mole%
731 ppm
Fig. 2. Schematic diagram of membrane module.
3.2. Membrane module
Schematic diagram of the membrane module is shown in Fig. 2.
The lower and upper compartments, with inner diameter 110 mm,
were made from stainless steel (AISI 316). Polyvinilydene
diouride (PVDF) at sheet membranes (Durapore from Millipore,
thickness 125 mm, pore size 0.22 mm, lter diameter 142 mm)
were used as the support of the liquid membrane. After being
immersed in the carrier solution, the membrane lter was
sandwiched between two compartments of the module. Once
prepared, the membrane lter could be used for 34 weeks with no
change in separation and permeation properties.
3.3. Experimental setup
The schematic diagram of the experimental setup is shown in
Fig. 3. All tubing used to connect all parts of the setup was stainless
steel (AISI 316). The experimental procedure is as follows.
Propylene and propane, after passing through mass ow
controllers (Brooks Instruments, model 5850S), were mixed and
entered the humidier. The humidied feed passes through a
temperature control system and enters the membrane cell. A
combination of a heater and a cooler were used as the temperature
control system. The feed gas was introduced to the upper
compartment of the cell and the sweep gas, nitrogen, was supplied
to the lower compartment. The main product, permeate, was
514 M. Takht Ravanchi et al. / Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers 40 (2009) 511517
collected from the lower compartment and the secondary product,
retentate, was collected from the upper compartment. A back
pressure regulator (BPR, Tescom, Germany) was used on the
retentate line to control the pressure of the system. During all
experiments, sweep gas was at atmospheric pressure. The
experiments were conducted at room temperature (298  5 K).
All the experimental data were obtained after an initial permeation
period of 46 h. Each experiment was repeated two times.
3.4. Analysis
The gas composition was determined by a gas chromatograph
(Agilent 6890N) equipped with a ame ionization detector (FID,
Agilent Technologies Inc., column, HP Al/S, 0.53 mm in diameter,
and 50 m in length).
4. Design of experiments
Design of experiments is an invaluable tool for identifying
critical parameters, optimizing chemical processes and identifying
operating regions for the process (Godbert, 2000).
The Taguchi method is a powerful problem solving technique
for improving process performance. It reduces scrap rates,
rework costs and manufacturing costs due to excessive
variability in processes (Antony and Antony, 2001). The
techniques for laying out experiments when multiple factors
are involved, has been known for a long time and is popularly
known as the factorial design of experiments. This method helps
researchers to determine the possible combinations of factors
and to identify the best combination. However, in industrial
settings, it is extremely costly to run a number of experiments to
test all combinations. The Taguchi approach developed rules to
carry out the experiments, which further simplied and
standardized the design of experiments, along with minimizing
the number of factor combinations that would be required to
test the factor effects. So the Taguchi method has been chosen
for this study.
The Taguchi method was developed by Genichi Taguchi
between 1950 and 1960. This method (Peace, 1993; Taguchi,
1990) is a systematic application of design and analysis of
experiments for the purpose of designing and improving product
quality. In recent years, the Taguchi method has become a
powerful tool for improving productivity during research and
development so that, high quality products can be produced
quickly and at low cost. Optimization of process parameters is the
key step in the Taguchi method in achieving a high quality without
increasing the cost. This is because optimization of process
parameters can improve performance characteristics and the
optimal process parameters obtained from the Taguchi method are
insensitive to the variation of environmental conditions and other
noise factors. Basically, classical process parameter design is
complex and not easy to use. Especially, a large number of
experiments have to be carried out when the number of the
process parameters increases. To solve this task, the Taguchi
method uses a special design of orthogonal arrays to study the
entire process parameter space with a small number of experi-
ments only (Kargari et al., 2004b).
In the Taguchi approach, orthogonal arrays and analysis of
variance (ANOVA) are used as the tools of analysis.
A brief overview of the process followed by the Taguchis
approach to parameter design is provided in Fig. 4. These steps can
be grouped as
- planning an array experiment to determine the effects of the
control factors,
Fig. 4. Flowchart of the Taguchi method (Nikbakht et al., 2007).
- conducting the array experiment and
- analyzing and verifying the results.
Quality characteristic is the output or the response variable to
be observed. The quality characteristic of this study is separation
percent (SP) which is dened as below:
C permeate  C feed
SP (1)
C feed
In separation processes, separation percent is the most
important criteria by which process performance can be evaluated.
Thus, in the present study it is chosen as quality characteristic.
Noise factors are those parameters which are either uncontrol-
lable or are too expensive to control such as variation of
environmental operating conditions. Control parameters are those
design factors that can be set and maintained. The levels for each
control parameter must be chosen at this point. The number of
levels for each control parameter denes the experimental region.
The array experiment is designed by selecting the appropriate
orthogonal array for the control parameters. Orthogonal array for a
particular project depends on the number of factors and their
levels. In order to analyze the results, the Taguchi method uses a
statistical measure of performance called signal-to-noise (S/N)
ratio. The S/N ratio can be used to determine the product quality
and to compare the product performance. It can be combined with
the orthogonal array for the design of experiments to improve
product and process. In its simplest form, the S/N ratio is the ratio
of the mean (signal) to the standard deviation (noise). The Taguchi
method uses the S/N ratio to measure the separation percent
deviation from the desired value. There are three standard S/N
ratios, i.e., bigger-is-better, smaller-is-better and nominal-is-best
quality characteristics. As in the separation of propylenepropane
mixture propylene is the desirable product, and S/N ratio was
calculated on the basis of propylene concentration in the product,
the more the S/N ratio the better the separation performance. For
the larger the better responses, as in this study, the following
relation is used to calculate S/N ratio:
!
1X n
1
S=N 10 log (2)
n i1 y2i
where n is the number of experiments and yi is the response at each
experiment (Montgomery, 1991).
5. Results and discussion
5.1. Taguchi approach
In the Taguchi analysis for experimental design, important
factors that have inuence on process and their levels must be
 M. Takht Ravanchi et al. / Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers 40 (2009) 511517
Table 3
Separation factors and their levels.
Factor Unit Level 1 Level 2
Trans-membrane pressure kPa 50 100
Carrier concentration wt.% 5 10
determined at rst. Trans-membrane pressure and carrier con-
centration were two inuential parameters that affect the
separation performance of a facilitated transport membrane. Thus,
they were chosen as separation factors. Three levels set for each of
these factors, which are demonstrated in Table 3.
According to the Taguchi parameter design methodology and
with the aid of Qualitek-4 software, one experimental design
should be selected for the controllable factors. In the present work,
an L9 orthogonal array was used. The experimental layout for the
separation process parameters using this orthogonal array is
shown in Table 4. Each row of this table represents a run, which is a
specic set of factor levels to be tested.
Nine experiments with the arrangement of Table 4 were
performed. Separation percent was calculated by Eq. (1) and S/N
ratio was calculated by Eq. (2). The results are shown in Table 5. As
it can be seen in this table, when trans-membrane pressure was
kept constant and carrier concentration was increased, S/N ratio
was increased (experiments 1, 2, 3 or 4, 5, 6 or 7, 8, 9). The same
trend can be observed when carrier concentration was kept
constant and trans-membrane pressure was increased (experi-
ments 1, 4, 7 or 2, 5, 8 or 3, 6, 9). Basically, the larger the response,
the better the performance characteristic. As can be seen in Table 5,
increasing the trans-membrane pressure and carrier concentration
increases S/N ratio and separation percent. The larger the S/N ratio,
the larger the contribution of one separation factor at that level for
the separation. Moreover, entry No. 9 tops all the other eight
entries with regard to separation percent and S/N ratio. Thus entry
9 levels were selected as optimum conditions. In other words, by
selection of this entry, the best response with minimum required
conditions (cost) will be attainable.
The Taguchi analysis of separation data are presented in Table 6
and Figs. 5 and 6. As it can be seen, with an increase in factor levels
the Taguchi responses were increased as well. The highest
response was obtained when factors are at their highest levels.
The Taguchi analysis predicts that optimum conditions at
which highest product concentration obtained is when trans-
membrane pressure and carrier concentration are in their highest
values (i.e. 120 kPa and 20 wt.% respectively). According to this
analysis, at optimum condition propylene concentration in the
product will be 99.801 vol.%.
5.2. Experimental results
According to the Taguchis experimental layout (Table 4), some
experiments were conducted the results of which are demon-
Table 4
Experimental layout using L9 orthogonal array.
Experiment number Factors
Trans-membrane pressure Carrier concentration
1 50 5 Response
2 50 10
3 50 20
4 100 5 L1
5 100 10
6 100 20
7 120 5 L2  L1
8 120 10
9 120 20
515
Table 5
The separation percent and the signal to noise ratio based upon experimental
results.
Level 3
Experiment number Separation percent S/N ratio (db)
120
20 1 95.60 39.81
2 96.72 39.86
3 98.94 39.95
4 96.96 39.87
5 98.22 39.92
6 99.20 39.96
7 97.20 39.88
8 98.48 39.93
9 99.26 39.97
strated in Fig. 7. As can be seen in this gure, when trans-
membrane pressure and carrier concentration are in their highest
levels, the highest concentration of propylene can be obtained in
the permeate product, i.e. the highest separation percent was
obtained.
Permeability and selectivity are two important parameters by
which the separation performance of a membrane can be
evaluated. In Table 7 these values were reported.
Facilitated transport is a combination of two processes:
absorption (on the feed side) and stripping (on the permeate
side). Increasing the pressure is in favor of absorption and
decreasing the pressure is in favor of stripping. Thus, increasing
the feed pressure increases the absorbed propylene on the feed
side. Due to the pressure difference between feed side and
permeate side, the complexed propylene is decomplexed on the
permeate side. Therefore, the more the trans-membrane pressure,
the more the driving force for separation and the more the
propylene concentration in the product. This concept is in
agreement with what is observed in Fig. 7.
In facilitated transport membranes, propylene permeation
occurs via two mechanisms: Fickian diffusion and facilitation
transport. In the presence of carrier in the membrane system,
propylene was permeated via Fickian diffusion and facilitated
transport. Based upon facilitated transport mechanism, when
more carriers were available in the membrane, more propylene can
be transported along the membrane thickness, propylene con-
centration in the product was increased and separation perfor-
mance was improved. The same results were observed in Fig. 7, i.e.
when a 20 wt% carrier solution was used in the membrane, highest
propylene concentration was obtained.
According to Fig. 7, when trans-membrane pressure and carrier
concentration are at their highest levels (i.e. 120 kPa and 20 wt.%,
respectively) highest propylene concentration in the product
(99.63 vol.%) is obtained which results an error equal to 0.17% from
the Taguchi analysis prediction.
5.3. Analysis of variance
Taguchi-oriented practitioners often use the analysis of
variance to verify the factors that inuence the mean response.
Table 6
The responses for the Taguchi analysis of the separation data.
Factors
Trans-membrane pressure Carrier concentration
98.543 98.293
L2 99.063 98.903
L3 99.156 99.566
0.52 0.61
L3  L1 0.613 1.273
L3  L2 0.093 0.663
516 M. Takht Ravanchi et al. / Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers 40 (2009) 511517

Table 7
Propylene permeability and propylenepropane selectivity.

Trans-membrane pressure (kPa) Propylene permeability Selectivity

(Barrer)

Carrier concentration: 5 wt.%

50 27.26 44.45
100 63.41 64.79
120 68.20 70.43

Carrier concentration: 10 wt.%

50 89.13 59.97
100 139.56 111.36
120 149.56 130.58

Carrier concentration: 20 wt.%

50 260.53 187.68
100 425.05 249.00
120 488.06 269.27

Fig. 5. Main effect of trans-membrane pressure on product concentration (Taguchi

analysis). Sum of squares (SS), mean square (variance), the ratio of factor
variance on error variance (F) and percent of contribution of each
factor on the response (P) are important parameters used in
analysis of variance.
The purpose of the ANOVA is to investigate which process
parameters signicantly affect the performance characteristic. This
is accomplished by separating the total variability of each level,
which is measured by the sum of the squared deviations from the
total mean of the responses, into contribution by each process
parameter and the error. The percentage contribution by each of
the process parameters in the total sum of the squared deviations
can be used to evaluate the importance of the process parameter
change on the performance characteristic. In addition, the F-test
named after Fisher (1925) can also be used to determine which
parameters have a signicant effect on the performance char-
acteristic. Usually, the change of the process parameter has
signicant effect on the performance characteristic when the
F-value is large.
Fig. 6. Main effect of carrier concentration on product concentration (Taguchi Results of ANOVA which are shown in Table 8 indicate that
analysis).
carrier concentration with the contribution of 71.686% on the nal
response is the most signicant process parameter for affecting the
performance characteristic.
From Fisher tables (Fisher, 1925) with 90% condence,
F10,2,4 = 4.32. According to this value, the F-value for trans-
membrane pressure and carrier concentration are greater than
the corresponding values of Fisher tables, so the tests are reliable
with 90% condence. The contribution of error is 11%, which is in
reasonable range of errors.

6. Conclusion

In the separation of propylenepropane mixture via facilitated

Fig. 7. Effect of trans-membrane pressure on product concentration with carrier
concentration as parameter (experimental results).
transport mechanism, trans-membrane pressure and carrier
concentration were two important parameters. The inuence of
these parameters on the separation performance of a membrane
system was investigated experimentally and via the Taguchi
approach.
Both analyses conrmed that the more the trans-membrane
pressure and the more the carrier concentration, the better the
separation performance.

Table 8
Statistical results of ANOVA.

Factor DOF Sum of squares Variance F-ratio Contribution percentage

Trans-membrane pressure 2 0.656 0.328 7.311 17.330

Carrier concentration 2 2.435 1.217 27.107 71.686
Other/error 4 0.179 0.044 10.984

Total 8 3.271 100.000

 M. Takht Ravanchi et al. / Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers 40 (2009) 511517 517

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