SEED Grant - Sathybama Institute of Science and Technology | Ongoing Projects | Centre for Waste Management (CWM) at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology (Deemed to be University)

SEED Grant - Sathyabama

Project title: Facile and scalable fabrication of superhydrophobic PVDF membrane for effective moisture entrapment from bioethanol for sanitizer and biofuel applications.

Funded by Sathybama Institute of Science and Technology
Amount: Rs 3,00,000/-
Duration: October 2023- October 2024
Principal Investigators: Dr. P. Priyadharsini
Co-Investigators: Dr. Sathish Kumar R, Dr. Dawn S. S

Project summary:

Bioethanol production from novel and sustainable sources has been developed and patented. The challenge in the bioethanol recovery is the entrained moisture which makes it unsuitable as a fuel and a sanitizer. A superhydrophobic Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane unit for moisture entrapment will be developed and retrofitted in the bioethanol producing unit.

Objectives:

To develop a novel triple layer hydrophilic/hydrophobic architecture Superhydrophobic PVDF airgap membrane for enhanced distillation.
To fabricate a membrane distillation unit and performance evaluation.
To optimize airgap membrane distillation process for the effective removal of moisture from the bioethanol.
The long-term performance of bioethanol plant coupled membrane distillation and maintenance will be evaluated for commercial validation.