Case study · Chemical & Petrochemical · 2012
200,000 L/day hybrid refinery, solvents recovered at pervaporation scale
An innovative multi-process refinery in Virginia, USA. Petro Sep engineered, fabricated, and deployed AQUA-SEP®, AZEO-SEP®, and VOC-SEP® systems on the same site. Featured as one of the largest pervaporation deployments of its kind.
- Industry
- Chemical & Petrochemical
- Location
- Virginia, USA
- Year
- 2012
- Technology deployed
- PV + VP + VMD
Outcomes
The numbers that mattered.
- Project capacity
- 200,000 L/day
- Multi-process refinery scope.
- Technologies combined
- 3
- AQUA-SEP®, AZEO-SEP®, and VOC-SEP® on the same site.
- Scope ownership
- End to end
- Design, fabrication, installation, and commissioning by one team.
01
The problem
A multi-process refinery handling solvents needs several separations at once. Distillation alone cannot break solvent azeotropes, reverse osmosis cannot finish high-TDS aqueous streams, and volatile organics have to come out of the water before it can be reused or discharged.
02
Why a hybrid AQUA-SEP + AZEO-SEP + VOC-SEP design
Petro Sep's three productized platforms each target one of those separations. AQUA-SEP® (vacuum membrane distillation) handles the high-TDS aqueous streams that RO cannot touch. AZEO-SEP® (pervaporation) breaks the azeotropic and close-boiling solvent mixtures distillation alone cannot resolve, with no entrainer column required. VOC-SEP® (hydrophobic pervaporation) removes volatile organic compounds from water and recovers them for reuse. Petro Sep describes the result as an innovative multi-use, multi-process refinery.
03
On the record
Petro Sep's 2024 project highlights list the Virginia hybrid refinery as a completed 2012 solvents project with a production capacity of 200,000 L/day, and its 2024 company profile shows AQUA-SEP®, AZEO-SEP®, and VOC-SEP® combined on the one site.
Gallery
From the field.
Photographs from fabrication, installation, and commissioning.
Industry
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Technology
How Pervaporation works.
Selective separation of liquid mixtures, including the azeotropes that distillation cannot break.
Specs and applications
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