Patent ID: 8506815

Claim:
A method of removing water from a feed composition comprising a product component and water, the method comprising the steps of (i) providing a membrane separation system comprising at least one membrane comprising a selectively permeable layer comprising a polymer or copolymer of perfluoro-2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxole, (ii) contacting the membrane with the feed composition in which the water is present at an initial concentration, (iii) permeating the feed composition through said membrane in which the water transfers through said membrane preferentially relative to the product component, thereby selectively removing water from the feed composition, and (iv) recovering from said membrane separation system a product composition comprising the water at a final concentration substantially lower than the initial concentration in which the permeating step comprises vapor permeation, pervaporation or a combination thereof and in which membrane permeation is the exclusive mechanism for removing water from the feed composition.