Pervaporation membrane process for vapour absorption system

This paper describes a novel vapour absorption refrigeration system in which a pervaporation membrane replaces the conventional generator for the concentration of working fluids. The use of a pervaporation membrane gives two potential advantages to the vapour absorption system; i.e. enhanced selectivity of the components to be separated from the working fluids and a lower space requirement. Issues related to integration of a pervaporation membrane into a vapour absorption system and the performances of such a system have been investigated. The results indicate that the pervaporation membrane process could be an alternative to the distillation process that is widely used in vapour absorption systems.