Acid tolerant polymeric membrane and process for the recovery of acid using polymeric membranes

Abstract

A crosslinked polymeric polyvinyl sulfate membrane or crosslinked copolymer polyvinyl sulfate and polyvinyl alcohol membrane, suitable for use in an acid environment, and its use for recovering acid from a feed mixture comprising acid, hydrocarbons and water, the method comprising: processing said mixture using a first polymeric membrane to form a first retentate containing a substantially greater concentration of hydrocarbons than said feed mixture and a first permeate containing a substantially greater concentration of acid and water than said mixture, said first polymeric membrane being selectively permeable to the acid and water over the hydrocarbons found in the mixture, and recovering the first permeate; said first permeate can be processed further using a second water reduction mean to form a first stream containing a substantially greater concentration of acid than said first permeate and a second stream containing a substantially greater concentration of water than said first permeate, said water reduction step may be a second polymeric membrane being selectively permeable to the water over the acid in said first permeate; and recovering said second stream or retentate.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.