Analysis of reverse osmosis and pervaporation using activity‐based permeance: Aqueous and nonaqueous systems

Abstract The recent advancement in mechanically and chemically robust membranes has led to the capabilities of both reverse osmosis (RO) and pervaporation (PV) for separation of water/organic solvent and organic solvent mixtures. However, their performances are evaluated in different permeation formulas. To address this, we have conducted an analysis using a unified parameter: activity‐based permeance. The present study evaluated RO and PV using the same organosilica membrane for the separation of both non‐aqueous solvents (methanol/ethanol, methanol/iso‐propanol [IPA], and methanol/dimethyl carbonate) and organic solvent‐aqueous mixtures (including water with methanol, ethanol, IPA, tert‐butanol, and glucose), at concentrations ranging from 0% to 100%. With the use of activity‐based permeance, we achieved a consistent evaluation of both PV and RO processes. Moreover, this approach provides prediction of separation performance even in RO and PV.