Method for treating solvent in wastewater

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11097963-B2
Application number	US-201716306415-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 22, 2017
Priority date	Dec 26, 2016
Publication date	Aug 24, 2021
Grant date	Aug 24, 2021

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a method for treating a solvent in wastewater generated in a polycarbonate production process. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a method for treating a solvent in wastewater generated in a polycarbonate production process, which can easily recover a high purity solvent regardless of the concentration of the solvent by using a membrane distillation method to reuse it, and contribute to energy savings.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for treating a solvent in wastewater, comprising steps of:
a) preparing the wastewater containing water, and a solvent in a vapor state and a liquid state generated in a polycarbonate production process;
b) separating the solvent by a membrane distillation method in which the wastewater is supplied to a separation membrane column having a hydrophobic porous support membrane to separate only the solvent in a vapor state through pores of the hydrophobic porous support membrane and transfer it to a condenser;
c) condensing the separated solvent by using the condenser; and
d) transferring the condensed solvent to a solvent reservoir,
wherein the hydrophobic porous support membrane has pores of a 0.2 μm to 0.5 μm size, and is formed of polypropylene or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), and
wherein the solvent is methylene chloride (CH 2 Cl 2 ).

2. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the wastewater of the step a) further contains a salt, a catalytic material, or a salt and a catalytic material.

3. The method of claim 2 ,
wherein, when the wastewater of the step a) further contains the salt, the step of separating the solvent by a membrane distillation method comprises
supplying the wastewater containing water, a salt, and a solvent in a vapor state and a liquid state to the separation membrane column having a hydrophobic porous support membrane to separate only the solvent in a vapor state to one side through the pores of the hydrophobic porous support membrane and transfer it to the condenser.

4. The method of claim 2 ,
wherein, when the wastewater of the step a) further contains the catalytic material, the step of separating the solvent by a membrane distillation method comprises
supplying the wastewater containing water, a catalytic material, and a solvent in a vapor state and a liquid state to the separation membrane column having a hydrophobic porous support membrane to separate only the solvent in a vapor state to one side through the pores of the hydrophobic porous support membrane and transfer it to the condenser.

5. The method of claim 2 ,
wherein, when the wastewater of the step a) further contains the catalytic material, the step of separating the solvent by a membrane distillation method comprises
supplying the wastewater containing water, a catalytic material, and a solvent in a vapor state and a liquid state to the separation membrane column having a hydrophobic porous support membrane to separate the catalytic material and the solvent in a vapor state to one side through the pores of the hydrophobic porous support membrane and transfer them to the condenser.

6. The method of claim 2 ,
wherein, when the wastewater of the step a) further contains the catalytic material, the step of separating the solvent by the membrane distillation method comprises
supplying the wastewater containing water, a catalytic material, and a solvent in a vapor state and a liquid state to the separation membrane column having a hydrophobic porous support membrane to separate only 20 wt % to 90 wt % of the catalytic material, based on the weight of the total catalyst contained in the wastewater, together with the solvent in a vapor state to one side through the pores of the hydrophobic porous support membrane and transfer them to the condenser.

7. The method of claim 2 ,
wherein, when the wastewater of the step a) further contains the salt and the catalytic material, the step of separating the solvent by the membrane distillation method comprises
supplying the wastewater containing water, a salt, a catalytic material, and a solvent in a vapor state and a liquid state to the separation membrane column having a hydrophobic porous support membrane to separate the catalytic material and the solvent in a vapor state to one side through the pores of the hydrophobic porous support membrane and transfer them to the condenser.

8. The method of claim 2 ,
wherein, when the wastewater of the step a) further contains the salt and the catalytic material, the step of separating the solvent by the membrane distillation method comprises
supplying the wastewater containing water, a salt, a catalytic material, and a solvent in a vapor state and a liquid state to the separation membrane column having a hydrophobic porous support membrane to separate only the solvent in a vapor state to one side through the pores of the hydrophobic porous support membrane and transfer it to the condenser.

9. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein, in the step a), the wastewater is generated in the step of purifying the polycarbonate or regenerating nitrogen gas used for drying the polycarbonate after completion of drying.

10. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the step b) further comprises heating the wastewater before supplying it to the hydrophobic porous support membrane.

11. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein, in the step b), the remaining wastewater not separated through the hydrophobic porous support membrane remains on the other side of the hydrophobic porous support membrane, and then is discharged through a transfer line connected to a side of the separation membrane column.

12. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the solvent separated in the step c) is recovered and reused in the polycarbonate production process.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the solvent in the wastewater is treated using a treatment apparatus comprising:
a heater for heating the wastewater containing water, and a solvent in a vapor state and a liquid state generated in a polycarbonate production process;
the separation membrane column having the hydrophobic porous support membrane for separating only the solvent in a vapor state heated by the heater;
the condenser equipped with a chiller for condensing the solvent separated from the separation membrane;
the solvent reservoir for recovering the solvent separated from the condenser; and
a vacuum pump for recovering or circulating the solvent.

Assignees

• Lg Chemical Ltd
• Sepratek Inc

Inventors

• Kim Youna
• Lee Dong Kwon
• Lee Jeong Seok
• Kim Kwang Hyon
• Yeom Choongkyun
• Kang Seok Ki
• Kim Kyehoon

Classifications

• B01D71/262

  Polypropylene · CPC title

• B01D69/107

  Organic support material · CPC title

• B01D71/261

  Polyethylene · CPC title

• B01D61/364

  Membrane distillation · CPC title

• C02F2201/002

  Construction details of the apparatus · CPC title