The study is motivated by the industrial separation problem in the fine chemical and pharmaceutical industry,
that is isobutanol removal from process wastewater. There are several options for separating the isobutanolwater system. When separating on an industrial scale, it is essential that the most suitable alternative is
implemented. The classical method of isobutanol-water separation is distillation. However, since the mixture
forms a heteroazeotrope, only an azeotrope composition can be achieved with traditional distillation. Azeotropic
distillation is a solution, the alternative is membrane separation, including pervaporation. The aim of this study
is to investigate and optimize hybrid organophilic pervaporation and distillation processes for the separation of
the isobutanol-water mixture. The examination is carried out in professional flowsheet simulator environment
with user-added organophilic pervaporation membrane modules, phase separator and distillation column.
Applying this new process, it is possible to obtain 99.9 weight% alcohol and water product from the initial 7
weight% isobutanol - 93 weight% water mixture