Patent ID: 8123943

Claim:
A pervaporation assembly, comprising: (a) a series of multiple membrane modules, each membrane module having an outer longitudinal surface, a feed end and a residue end, and including a permeate pipe protruding from the membrane module, the membrane modules having their permeate pipes connected in an end-to-end manner; (b) a tube containing the membrane modules, the tube comprising at least one removable head and a shell having an inside surface and an outside surface, the tube being provided with a feed inlet port and a residue outlet port and adapted so that a permeate stream flowing through the permeate pipes may be withdrawn from the tube; (c) an annular seal for each membrane module, positioned so as to provide a fluid-tight seal between the outer longitudinal surface of the module and the inside surface of the tube; (d) flow-blocking and flow-directing means positioned in the tube so as to block immediate flow of a fluid from the residue end of a membrane module to the feed end of the next membrane module in the series; (e) an annular reheating zone between the outer longitudinal surface of a membrane module and the inside surface of the tube; the flow-blocking and flow-directing means being adapted to direct residue fluid into and out of the reheating zone; and (f) means for heating the outside surface of the tube.