Sorption, permeation and selective transport of moisture/VOCs through a CA membrane for total heat recovery

This article studies in detail the permeation properties of highly permeable and highly selective polymer membrane for water vapor/volatile organic compound (VOC). A dense cellulose acetate (CA) membrane is prepared by the dry method. The sorption and permeation properties of water vapor and VOCs (acetic acid, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, toluene and ethane) are experimentally investigated. Besides, the mass transfer coefficient of self-membrane can be separated from the total mass transfer coefficient. Using sorption and permeation data of gases, diffusion coefficient is calculated based on a solution–diffusion mechanism. The selectivity for water vapor/VOC is discussed and analyzed. The permeability selectivities of water vapor/VOC are all over 100. The result shows that the novel CA sense membrane is suitable for air dehumidification and total heat recovery. Copyright , Oxford University Press.