H2 separation using defect-free, inorganic composite membranes

Defect-free, microporous Al(2)O(3)/SAPO-34 zeolite composite membranes were prepared by coating hydrothermally grown zeolite membranes with microporous alumina using molecular layer deposition. These inorganic composite membranes are highly efficient for H(2) separation: their highest H(2)/N(2) mixture selectivity was 1040, in contrast with selectivities of 8 for SAPO-34 membranes. The composite membranes were selective for H(2) for temperatures up to at least 473 K and feed pressures up to at least 1.5 MPa; at 473 K and 1.5 MPa, the H(2)/N(2) separation selectivity was 750. The H(2)/CO(2) separation selectivity was lower than the H(2)/N(2) selectivity and decreased slightly with increasing pressure; the selectivity was 20 at 473 K and 1.5 MPa. The high H(2) selectivity resulted either because most of the pores in the Al(2)O(3) layer were slightly smaller than 0.36 nm (the kinetic diameter of N(2)) or because the Al(2)O(3) layer slightly narrowed the SAPO-34 pore entrance. These composite membranes may represent a new class of inorganic membranes for gas separation.     

Surface modification of γ-alumina membranes by silane coupling for CO2 separation

Top layers of γ-Al₂O₃ composite membranes have been modified by the silane coupling technique using phenyltriethoxysilane for improving the separation factor of CO₂ to N₂. The separation efficiency of the modified membranes was strongly dependent upon the hydroxylation tendency of the support materials and the amount of the special functional group (i.e. phenyl radical) which was coupled onto a top layer. The separation factor through the TiO₂ supported γ-Al₂O₃ membrane was found to be fairly enhanced by silane coupling, but in case of the -Al₂O₃ supported membrane was not. The CO₂/N₂ separation factor through the modified γ-Al₂O₃/TiO₂ composite membrane is 1.7 at 90°C and ΔP = 2 × 10⁵ Pa for the binary mixture containing 50 vol% CO₂. The separation factor is proportional to the CO₂ concentration in the gas mixture, and the modified membrane is stable up to 100°C. The main mechanism of the CO₂ transport through the modified γ-Al₂O₃ layer is known to be a surface diffusion.     

Separation of Bulk Carbon Dioxide-Hydrogen Mixtures by Selective Surface Flow Membrane

The separation performance of carbon dioxide-hydrogen mixtures by a nanoporous carbon membrane called selective surface flow membrane is described. The membrane selectively permeates CO2 from H2 and a H2 enriched gas is produced at the feed gas pressure. Extensive experimental data for the separation using feed gas pressures from 0.24 to 1.13 MPa and CO2 compositions from 5 to 75 (mol%) in H2 are reported. The data can be empirically correlated using a simple equation with a single adjustable-parameter. The adjustable parameter is found to be a linear function of the feed gas CO2 partial pressure.The membrane separates CO2-H2 mixture very efficiently even at a low total feed gas pressure (0.4 MPa). The membrane area required for a given separation decreases drastically with increasing feed gas pressure in the range of 0.24–0.92 MPa and then it becomes insensitive to the feed gas pressure.     

SEPARATION OF PROPANE FROM PROPANE/NITROGEN MIXTURES USING PDMS COMPOSITE MEMBRANES BY VAPOUR PERMEATION

 This study deals with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)/polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) composite membranes for propane separation from propane/nitrogen mixtures, which is relevant to the recovery of propane in petroleum and chemical industry. The surface and cross-section morphology of PDMS/PVDF composite membranes was observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The surface morphology of PDMS/PVDF composite membranes is very dense. There are three layers, the thin dense top layer, finger-like porous middle layer and sponge-like under layer in the cross-section SEM image of PDMS/PVDF composite membranes. The effects of the types of cross-linking agents and pressure on the membrane permselectivity were investigated. The permeability of nitrogen was independent of feed pressure. However, the permeability of propane increased with the pressure increasing for all membranes. The membrane cured by a tri-functional crosslinker with attached vinyl groups had better performance than the tetra-functional one, in both selectivity and permeation flux. The total permeation flux is 1.769× 10^-2 cm³(STP)/(cm²·s) and the separation factor is 19.17 when the mole percent of propane in the gas mixture is 10 at the 0.2 MPa pressure difference and 25°C.     

Concentration polarization in gas permeation

The aim of this article is to show the importance of concentration polarization effects in the separation of gas–vapor mixtures using membranes. In the experimental part of this work, gas mixture measurements are conducted with a specially designed test cell. The experimental data are analyzed using a two-resistance model for the transport through the membrane, which is derived in the theoretical part of this work. The two resistances considered are the transport through the boundary layer on the feed side of the membrane and through the separation layer. For the transport through the separation layer an extended free volume model is derived. This model considers not only the feed side but also the influence of the permeate side on the separation properties of the membrane. The results of the measurements show the influence of concentration polarization effects and their dependencies on feed pressure, membrane thickness, and feed flow rate.     

Microporous Polyamide Membranes for Molecular Sieving of Nitrogen from Volatile Organic Compounds

Microporous polymer membranes continue to receive tremendous attention for energy-efficient gas separation processes owing to their high separation performances. A new network microporous polyamide membrane with good molecular-sieving performance for the separation of N₂ from a volatile organic compound (VOC) mixture is described. Triple-substituted triptycene was used as the main monomer to form a fisherman's net-shaped polymer, which readily forms a composite membrane by solution casting. This membrane exhibited outstanding separation performance and good stability for the molecular-sieving separation of N₂ over VOCs such as cyclohexane. The rejection rate of the membrane reached 99.2 % with 2098 Barrer N₂ permeability at 24 °C under 4 kPa. This approach promotes development of microporous membranes for separation of condensable gases.     

高选择性透过SO_2气体分离膜研究 Ⅱ.丙基乙烯基亚砜改性聚乙烯醇功能高分子膜的分离性能

丙基乙烯基亚砜改性聚乙醇功能高分子膜对SO_2,N_2及SO_2-N_2混合气体的渗透性能研究表明,该膜具有高选择透过SO_2的优良性能.透过SO_2的速率随着亚砜基含量的增加而增加,当亚砜基含量为25(mol)％时,经一次分离能使混合气体中SO_2的含量从1.54％提高到78.8％.     

Characteristics of a zirconia composite membrane fabricated by a laser firing method

By a method of laser firing, a high zirconia containing (70%) composite membrane on porous ceramic tubing was successfully fabricated. The laser sintered composite membrane was characterized by gas separation/permeation experiments. In the separation experiment of a CO₂---CH₄ gaseous mixture, it was found that the separation factor of CH₄ over CO₂ was 1.15. In the pure gases permeation experiment, it was found that Knudsen diffusion is considered to be predominant in the permeation mechanism for pure gases H₂, He, CH₄, N₂, O₂, and CO₂, and the permeation mechanism of H₂O at lower temperature depends mainly on surface diffusion and on Knudsen diffusion at higher temperature.     

Electric field-enhanced assembly of polyelectrolyte composite membranes

In this paper, a novel method was developed to enhance the assembly of polyelectrolyte composite membranes by inducing an electric field during electrostatic adsorption process. The hydrolyzed polyacrylonitrile (PAN) ultrafiltration (UF) membrane was placed in between a capacitor setup. The polyethyleneimine (PEI) was compulsorily assembled on the PAN support under the action of external electric force. Subsequently, the polyelectrolyte composite membranes were evaluated by pervaporation separation of water and alcohol mixture. The membrane obtained with only one PEI layer had a separation factor of 304 and a permeate flux of 512 g/m² h (75 °C) for pervaporation of 95 wt% ethanol–water mixture. An atomic force microscopy was also used to observe the microtopographical changes. The regularity of the membranes assembled by the new method was also improved in comparison with the membrane assembled by a dynamic layer-by-layer adsorption.     

A novel composite chitosan membrane for the separation of alcohol-water mixtures

A novel alcohol dehydration membrane with a three layer structure has been prepared. The top layer is a thin dense film of chitosan (CS), and the support layer is made of microporous polyacrylonitrile (PAN). Between the dense and microporous layer, there is an intermolecular cross-linking layer. This novel composite membrane has a high separation factor of more than 8000 and a good permeation rate of 0.26 kg/m² h for the pervaporation of 90 wt% ethanol aqueous solution at 60°C, 0.8 kg/m² h flux for a n-PrOH/water system and around 1 kg/m² h flux for an i-PrOH/water system using 80 wt% alcohol concentration at 60°C. The separation factor for both cases is more than 10⁵. The separation performance varies with feed composition, operating temperature and conditions of membrane preparation. The results show that the separation factor and flux of this membrane increase with raising the operating temperature. At the same time, the crosslinking layer improves durability of the composite membrane, and the pervaporation performance can be adjusted by changing the structure of the cross-linking layer. The cross section of the composite membrane has been examined by SEM.     

STUDY OF COMPOSITE MEMBRANE OF CELLULOSE ACETATE OR POLYVINYL ALCOHOL BLENDED WITH METHYLMETHACRYLATE-ACRYLIC ACID COPOLYMER FOR PERVAPORATION SEPARATION*

In this paper, methylmethacrylate-acrylic acid MMA-AA hydrophilic and hydrophobic copolymerswere prepared by copolymerization for preparing membrane materials. The composite membrane of celluloseacetate (CA) blended with MMA-AA hydrophobic copolymer was used for the separation of methanol frompentane-methanol mixture. When the methanol concentration was only 1 wt% ,the permeate flux stillmaintained at 350 g/m~2h and separation factor was as big as 800. The composite membrane of PVA(polyvinyl alcohol) blended with MMA-AA hydrophilic copolymer was used for the separation of ethanol-water mixture. The permeate flux was increased to 975 g/m~2h at 74℃ and the separation factor reached 3000at 25℃. The PVA/MMA-AA blended membrane surface modified by ammonia plasma was also investigatedfor separating ethanol-water mixture. Both permeate flux and separation factor of the membrane wasimproved. However, there was no obvious difference of plasma treatment time in the interval of 20～40 min.     

Plasticization of ultra-thin polysulfone membranes by carbon dioxide

Plasticization of gas separation membranes by carbon dioxide permanently alters their performance and increases the possibility of membrane failure. This is amplified in ultra-thin composite membranes, where the active polymeric layer is less than 2 μm. Here, the plasticization influence of CO₂ is measured on ultra-thin polysulfone composite membranes for a range of active layer thicknesses, at four temperatures. The resulting permeability–pressure isotherms demonstrate plasticization occurs for all thicknesses at pressures lower than has been reported for dense membranes. These isotherms were quantitatively fitted with an expanded dual-sorption model that takes into account plasticization of the membrane. The plasticization potential of CO₂ for polysulfone was found to increase with reduced active layer thickness. Similarly, the plasticization potential of CO₂ was found to decrease with temperature. These results are consistent with similar research that shows that thin films behave differently to dense membranes.     

Effect of separating layer in pervaporation composite membrane for MTBE/MeOH separation

The composite membranes with polyvinylalcohol (PVA) as separating layer material and polyacrylonitrile (PAN) or cellulose acetate (CA) as supporting layer material were prepared for separating methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE)/MeOH mixture by pervaporation (PV). The results showed that PV performance of the composite membrane with PVA membrane as separating layer was superior to that with CA membrane as separating layer, and the PV performance of PVA/CA composite membrane with CA membrane as supporting layer was better. The parameters to prepare the composite membrane remarkably affected PV performance of the composite membrane. The permeate flux of both composite membranes of PVA/PAN and PVA/CA was over 400 g/m² h, and the concentration of MeOH in the permeate reached over 99.9 wt.% for separating MTBE/MeOH mixture.     

具有界面交联结构藻酸钠复合膜的制备与性能

报道了一种具有界面交联结构的新型藻酸钠复合膜及其对醇水和其它有机物水体系的渗透汽化分离性能.该膜的活性层为藻酸钠,支撑层为氨化聚丙烯腈(PAN)多孔膜,在这两层之间存在着界面交联结构.研究了PAN多孔膜的水解时间、进行氨基化的二元胺种类及浓度对复合膜分离性能的影响,用己二胺进行氨基化所得到的复合膜的分离性能明显优于用乙二胺的结果.扫描电镜照片显示水解及氨基化改变了PAN超滤膜的孔结构,这也是影响新型复合膜性能的一个重要原因.     

抗污染PVA/PVDF电纺纳米纤维复合超滤膜的制备及过滤性能

以聚对苯二甲酸二醇酯(PET)无纺布为基底,聚偏氟乙烯(PVDF)纳米纤维为支撑层,聚乙烯醇(PVA)纳米纤维膜为分离层,采用静电纺丝法制备超滤膜,并用水/丙酮混合溶液对复合纳米纤维膜表面进行溶液处理,再加入戊二醛交联改性得到致密分离层.采用扫描电子显微镜(SEM)和红外光谱(FTIR)表征了复合超滤膜的表面,用水接触角(WCA)表征复合超滤膜的亲水性.在0.02 MPa恒压下死端过滤油/水乳液,测试复合超滤膜的过滤性能.结果表明,最优条件下制备的复合超滤膜死端过滤油/水乳液的通量为(42.50±4.78)L/(m~2·h),截留率达到(95.72±0.33)%;循环使用5次后,依然具有较好的过滤性能,常压下死端过滤复合超滤膜的纯水通量为(3469±28)L/(m~2·h).     

Effect of nickel deposition on hydrogen permeation behavior of mesoporous gamma-alumina composite membranes

Ni/alumina composite membranes were prepared and investigated for hydrogen separation at high temperature. alpha-Alumina-supported gamma-alumina composite membranes were prepared by soaking-rolling method. In order to improve H2 selectivity and permeance of the gamma-alumina membranes, Ni was deposited by a soaking process. As a result of a single gas permeation test of the Ni/alumina composite membranes, hydrogen permeance and H2/N2 selectivity at permeation temperature of 450 degrees C were 6.29 x 10(-7) mol/m2 s Pa and 5.2 which exceeded theoretical Knudsen selectivity. Contribution of surface diffusion was investigated by temperature dependence of H(2) permeance. The surface diffusion was observed at higher temperature above 250 degrees C. The Ni deposition on surface of the gamma-alumina composite membrane led to hydrogen permeation via Knudsen diffusion combined with surface diffusion, which gave high H2 selectivity exceeding the Knudsen diffusion mechanism.     

Supported carbon molecular sieve membranes based on a phenolic resin

The preparation of a composite carbon membrane for separation of gas mixtures is described. The membrane is formed by a thin microporous carbon layer (thickness, 2 μm) obtained by pyrolysis of a phenolic resin film supported over a macroporous carbon substrate (pore size, 1 μm; porosity, 30%). The microporous carbon layer exhibits molecular sieving properties and it allows the separation of gases depending on their molecular size. The micropore size was estimated to be around 4.2 Å. Single and mixed gas permeation experiments were performed at different temperatures between 25°C and 150°C, and pressures between 1 and 3.5 bar. The carbon membrane shows high selectivities for the separation of permanent gases like O₂/N₂ system (selectivity≈10 at 25°C). Gas mixtures like CO₂/N₂ and CO₂/CH₄ are successfully separated by means of prepared membranes. For example, the membrane prepared by carbonization at 700°C shows at 25°C the following separation factors: CO₂/N₂≈45 and CO₂/CH₄≈160.     

多孔石墨烯分离CH4/CO2的分子动力学模拟

采用分子动力学方法模拟CH₄/CO₂混合气体在多孔石墨烯分离膜中的分离过程, 分析了3 种纳米孔功能化修饰(N/H 修饰、全H修饰和N/―CH₃修饰)对分离过程的影响规律. 模拟结果表明气体分子会在石墨烯表面形成吸附层, CO₂分子的吸附强度高于CH₄分子. 纳米孔的功能化修饰不仅减小了纳米孔的可渗透面积, 还通过影响纳米孔边缘原子的电荷分布提高了气体分子的吸附强度, 进而影响了混合气体分子在多孔石墨烯分离膜中的渗透性和选择性. CO₂分子在多孔石墨烯中的渗透率能达到10⁶ GPU (1 GPU=3.35×10^-10 mol·s^-1·m^-2·Pa^-1), 远远高于传统的聚合物分离膜. 研究表明多孔石墨烯分离膜在天然气处理、CO₂捕获等工业气体分离过程中具有广泛的应用前景.     

PAMAM dendrimer composite membrane for CO2 separation: Formation of a chitosan gutter layer

A poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimer composite membrane with an excellent CO₂/N₂ separation factor was developed in-situ. The In-situ Modification (IM) method was used to modify the surface of commercial porous membranes, such as ultrafiltration membranes, to produce a gas selective layer by controlling the interface precipitation of the membrane materials in the state of a received membrane module. Using the IM method, a chitosan layer was prepared on the inner surface of a commercially available ultrafiltration membrane as a gutter layer, in order to affix PAMAM dendrimer molecules on the porous substrate. After chitosan treatment, the PAMAM dendrimer was impregnated into the gutter layer to form a PAMAM/chitosan hybrid layer. The CO₂ separation performance of the resulting composite membrane was tested at a pressure difference of 100 kPa and a temperature of 40 °C, using a mixed CO₂ (5 vol%)/N₂ (95 vol%) feed gas. The PAMAM dendrimer composite membrane, with a gutter layer prepared from ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether and a 0.5 wt% chitosan solution of two different molecular weight chitosans, revealed an excellent CO₂/N₂ separation factor and a CO₂ permeance of 400 and 1.6 × 10⁻⁷ m³ (STP) m⁻² s⁻¹ kPa⁻¹, respectively. SEM observations revealed a defect-free chitosan layer (thickness 200 nm) positioned directly beneath the top surface of the UF membrane substrate. After PAMAM dendrimer treatment, the hybrid chitosan/PAMAM dendrimer layer was observed with a thickness of 300 nm. XPS analysis indicated that the hybrid layer contained about 20–40% PAMAM dendrimer.