Organosiloxane membranes for heavy aromatic oil fractionation.

The industrial separation of hydrocarbons relies on distillation. Organic solvent nanofiltration can provide an energy-efficient alternative. We prepared high performance organosiloxane membranes for fractionation of heavy aromatics. They achieved a high permeance up to 0.13 L m−2 h−1 bar−1, with a rejection rate of 88.7% for hydrocarbons with five aromatic rings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]