Facile fabrication of a novel high performance CO2 separation membrane: Immobilization of poly(amidoamine) dendrimers in poly(ethylene glycol) networks

Poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers showed high CO₂ separation properties and were successfully immobilized in a poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) network upon photopolymerization of PEG dimethacrylate. The PAMAM dendrimer incorporation ratio was readily controlled, and a stable self-standing membrane containing up to 75 wt.% PAMAM dendrimer was obtained. The CO₂ separation properties over smaller H₂ were investigated by changing the PAMAM dendrimer content or generation and CO₂ partial pressure (ΔPCO₂$\mathrm{\Delta }{P}_{\text{C}{\text{O}}_2}$) under atmospheric conditions. Especially, a polymeric membrane containing 50 wt.% PAMAM dendrimer (0th generation) exhibited an excellent CO₂/H₂ selectivity of 500 with CO₂ permeability of 2.74 × 10⁻¹⁴ m³(STP)m/(m² s Pa) or 3.65 × 10³ barrer (1 barrer = 7.5 × 10⁻¹⁸ m³(STP)m/(m² s Pa)) when a mixture gas (CO₂/H₂: 5/95 by vol.) was fed at 25 °C and 100 kPa with 80% relative humidity. This polymeric materials are promising for a novel CO₂ separation membrane.     

Dehydration performance of a hydrophobic DD3R zeolite membrane

The all silica DDR membrane turns out to be well suited to separate water from organic solvents under pervaporation conditions, despite its hydrophobic character. All-silica zeolites are chemically and hydrothermally more stable than aluminum containing ones and are therefore preferred for membrane applications, including for dehydration, even though these type of membranes are hydrophobic. Permeation of water, ethanol and methanol through an all-silica DDR membrane has been measured at temperatures ranging from 344 to 398 K. The hydrophobic membrane shows high water fluxes (up to 20 kg m⁻² h⁻¹). The pure water permeance is insensitive to temperature and is well described assuming weak adsorption. Excellent performance in dewatering ethanol (N=2$N=2$ kg m⁻² h⁻¹and _αw=1500${\alpha }_{\text{w}}=1500$ at 373 K and _xw=0.18$x_{\text{w}}=0.18$) is observed and the membrane is also able to selectively remove water from methanol (N=5$N=5$ kg m⁻² h⁻¹ and _αw=9${\alpha }_{\text{w}}=9$). Water could also be removed from methanol/ethanol/water (_αwater_/EtOH=1500${\alpha }_{\text{water}/\text{EtOH}}=1500$, _αMeOH_/EtOH=70${\alpha }_{\text{MeOH}/\text{EtOH}}=70$ at 373 K) mixtures, even at water feed concentrations below 1.5 mol%.     

Thermodynamic properties of the ternary system {yNH4Cl + (1 − y)MgCl2} (aq) at 298.15 K

The mixture {yNH₄Cl + (1 − y)MgCl₂} (aq) has been studied using the hygrometric method at the temperature 298.15 K. The water activities are measured at total molalities from 0.30 mol kg⁻¹ up to saturation for different ionic strength fractions y of NH₄Cl with y = 0.20, 0.50 and 0.80. The obtained data allow the deduction of osmotic coefficients. Experimental results are compared with the calculations using the models of Zdanovskii–Stokes–Robinson, Kusik and Meissner, Robinson and Stokes, Lietzke and Stoughton, Reilly–Wood and Robinson and Pitzer. Thermodynamic properties have been modeled using the Pitzer ion-interaction model with inclusion of an ionic strength dependence of the third virial coefficient for the binary systems. From these measurements and the obtained binary parameters β⁽⁰⁾, β⁽¹⁾, C⁽⁰⁾ and C⁽¹⁾, the mixing ionic parameters θNH₄Mg${\theta }_{\text{N}{\text{H}}_4\text{Mg}}$ and ψNH₄MgCl${\psi }_{\text{N}{\text{H}}_4\text{MgCl}}$ are determined by the standard Pitzer model. The results show that a good accuracy is obtained with the standard Pitzer model using extended binary parameters. The parameters θNH₄Mg${\theta }_{\text{N}{\text{H}}_4\text{Mg}}$ and ψNH₄MgCl${\psi }_{\text{N}{\text{H}}_4\text{MgCl}}$ were used for evaluation of activity coefficients in the mixture. The excess Gibbs energy is also determined.     

Solubility of carbon dioxide in pentaerythritol tetraoctanoate

In this paper, solubility measurements of CO₂ in pure pentaerythritol tetraoctanoate (PEC8) between 273 and 343 K are presented. The experiments were performed according to the static, synthetic method. The data are represented using the Peng–Robinson equation of state with the Huron–Vidal mixing rules and the UNIQUAC equation for the excess Gibbs Energy (g^E) at infinite pressure. This system shows immiscibility in liquid phase, with lower critical end point (LCEP) at T = 268 ± 0.1 K and xCO₂=0.98±0.001$x_{\text{C}{\text{O}}_2}=0.98\pm 0.001$ and upper critical end point (UCEP) at the critical point of pure CO₂.     

Molecular motility and affinity of expanded carbon dioxide + ketone systems analyzed by molecular dynamics simulations

We perform a molecular dynamics simulation for CO₂ + ketone mixtures to study the molecular motility and elucidate how CO₂ molecules are dissolved in a mixture. The self-diffusion coefficients increase with increasing CO₂ mole fraction (xCO₂)$(x_{\text{C}{\text{O}}_2})$ and decreased with increasing molecular weight. These results mean that the mobility of molecules depends on the molecular size. To study molecular aggregation around CO₂ molecules, radial distribution functions (RDFs) and the distance from neighboring molecules to CO₂ molecules were calculated. The RDFs indicate that the CO₂ molecule exists near the carbonyl oxygen atom. Because of the distance of the neighboring molecule from the CO₂ molecule, the CO₂ molecule is less likely to exist around a branched alkyl ketone than a normal alkyl ketone.     

Different alkyl dimethacrylate mediated stearyl methacrylate monoliths for improving separation efficiency of typical alkylbenzenes and proteins

Monoliths were prepared in 530 μm I.D. fused silica capillaries via in situ copolymerization of stearyl methacrylate (SMA) with a dimethacrylate cross-linker in the presence of a binary porogenic solvent containing tert  .-butanol and 1,4-butanediol. Alkyl dimethacrylate cross-linkers other than the monomer were used to tune the monolith properties, and, as a result, an increase in the hydrophobicity of the final monoliths (the methylene selectivity α_CH2${\alpha }_{\text{C}{\text{H}}_2}$ increased from 1.396 to 1.475) was observed through an increase in the molecular chain length between two methacrylate units from the 0.360 nm of ethylene glycol dimethacrylate to the 1.241 nm of 1.9-nonanediol dimethacrylate. Moreover, the hydrophobicity of the final monoliths was also greatly affected by the methyl group branch in the cross-linkers, among which the 2-methyl-1,8-octanediol dimethacrylate (2-Me-1,8-ODDMA) mediated monolith exhibited the highest hydrophobicity (α_CH2${\alpha }_{\text{C}{\text{H}}_2}$ was 1.482) and fastest mass transfer kinetics (C-term was 9.14 ms). Besides the effective separation of six model proteins, the poly(SMA-co-2-Me-1,8-ODDMA) monolith also showed an improved performance in the separation of alkylbenzenes. The theoretical plate numbers reached 83 000 plates/m and 52 000 plates/m for thiourea (nonretained compound) and butylbenzene (retained compound), respectively, when using acetonitrile–water (70:30, v/v) as the mobile phase at a typical linear velocity of 1 mm/s. This improved performance towards small molecules was attributed to an increased mesopore proportion in the monolith and the faster dynamic process of mass transfer arising from novel tailoring of the monolith by choosing a suitable monomer/cross-linker pair.     

Modelling LLE and VLE of methanol + n-alkane series using GC-PC-SAFT with a group contribution kij

The fluid phase diagrams (LLE and VLE) of methanol + n-alkane mixtures series (from C₄ up to C₁₆) were modelled using GC-PC-SAFT EOS (Tamouza et al., Fluid Phase Equilibria 222–223 (2004) 67–76) combined with a recent method for computing k_ij based on the London theory (NguyenHuynh et al., Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 47 (2008) 8847–8858). This latter method requires pure compound adjustable parameters: pseudo-ionization energies J that may be calculated by group contribution in the case of n-alkane series. J_alkane is calculated from group parameters JCH₃$J_{\text{C}{\text{H}}_3}$ and JCH₂$J_{\text{C}{\text{H}}_2}$.     

Cationic gemini surfactants as pseudostationary phases in micellar electrokinetic chromatography. Part I: Effect of head group

Two cationic gemini surfactants with pyrrolidinium or alkyl ammonium head groups with but-2-yne spacers, but with the same length hydrocarbon chain have been characterized with respect to their aggregation behaviors and separation power as pseudostationary phases (PSPs) for micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC). They were compared with a commonly used PSP, sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS). The results suggest that the head groups of the surfactants have some effect on physicochemical properties such as critical micelle concentration (CMC), C₂₀, γ_CMC, partial specific volume, methylene selectivity and mobilities of the surfactants. CMC values of G1, G2 and SDS in pure water were found to be 0.82, 0.71, and 8.08 mM, respectively; they were reduced to 0.21, 0.11, and 3.0 mM when measured in 10 mM phosphate buffer at pH 7.0. G1 (α_CH2=2.74${\alpha }_{\text{C}{\text{H}}_2}=2.74$) and G2 (α_CH2=2.48${\alpha }_{\text{C}{\text{H}}_2}=2.48$) provided the most and the least hydrophobic environment, respectively. According to their partial specific volumes, geminis were found to have more flexible structures as compared with sodium dodecylsulfate. The effects of the head group structure were also characterized with the linear solvation energy relationship (LSER) model, which was able to evaluate the role of solute size, polarity/polarizability, and hydrogen bonding on retention and selectivity. The cohesiveness, hydrogen bond acidic and basic character of the surfactant systems were found to have the most significant influence on selectivity and MEKC retention of the gemini surfactants. It should be noted that with their large positive coefficient a values, G1 and G2 were found to be stronger HB acceptors than anionic and most of the cationic surfactants studied in the literature.     

Solubility of carbon dioxide in the solvent system (2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol + sulfolane + water)

New sets of data for the solubility of CO₂ in the amine solvent system of 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (1) + sulfolane (2) + water (3) were presented in this work. The measurements were done at temperatures of 313.2, 333.2, 353.2, and 373.2 K and CO₂ partial pressures up to 193 kPa. The investigated compositions were as follows: (i) w₁=16.5%$w_1=16.5\%$, w₂=32.2%$w_2=32.2\%$; (ii) w₁=8.2%$w_1=8.2\%$, w₂=41.2%$w_2=41.2\%$; (iii) w₁=22.3%$w_1=22.3\%$, w₂=27.7%$w_2=27.7\%$; and (iv) w₁=30.6%$w_1=30.6\%$, w₂=19.4%$w_2=19.4\%$, where w$w$ is the mass percent of the component. The present solubility data was correlated by a modified Kent–Eisenberg model. The model reasonably represents the present solubility data, not only over the considered conditions, but also for a wider range of temperatures, partial pressures, and compositions.     

Solid–liquid metastable equilibria in the quaternary system Li2SO4 + MgSO4 + Na2SO4 + H2O at T = 263.15 K

Solubility in the liquid–solid metastable system Li₂SO₄ + MgSO₄ + Na₂SO₄ + H₂O at T = 263.15 K was studied using the isothermal evaporation method. Based on experimental data, dry-salt phase and water-phase diagrams of the system were plotted. The dry-salt phase diagram of the system includes one three-salt co-saturation point, three metastable solubility isotherm curves, and three crystallization regions corresponding to lithium sulphate monohydrate (Li₂SO₄·H₂O), epsomite (MgSO₄·7H₂O), and mirabilite (Na₂SO₄·10H₂O). Neither a solid solution nor double salts were found. Based on the extended Harvie–Weare (HW) model and its temperature-dependent equation, the values of the Pitzer parameters β⁽⁰⁾, β⁽¹⁾, β⁽²⁾, and C^Φ for Li₂SO₄, MgSO₄, and Na₂SO₄, the mixed ion-interaction parameters θ_Li,Na, θ_Li,Mg, θ_Na,Mg, ΨLi,Na,SO₄${\Psi }_{\text{Li,Na,S}{\text{O}}_4}$, ΨLi,Mg,SO₄${\Psi }_{\text{Li,Mg,S}{\text{O}}_4}$, and ΨNa,Mg,SO₄${\Psi }_{\text{Na,Mg,S}{\text{O}}_4}$, and the Debye–Hückel parameter A^Φ in the quaternary system at 263.15 K were obtained. The solubility of the quaternary system Li₂SO₄ + MgSO₄ + Na₂SO₄ + H₂O at T = 263.15 K was also calculated. A comparison between the calculated and experimental results shows that the predicted solubility agrees well with experimental data.     

Synthesis and characterization of the azido-bound five-coordinate high-spin iron(II) “picket fence” porphyrin complex

An Fe(II)-azido five-coordinate picket fence porphyrin complex with the formula [Na(2,2,2-crypt)][Fe^II(TpivPP)(N₃)] · 3C₆H₅Cl (TpivPP = α,α,α,α-tetrakis(o-pivalamidophenyl)porphinato, known as a picket fence porphyrin, and 2,2,2-crypt is the cryptand-222) has been synthesized and characterized. The synthesis utilizes cryptand-222 to solubilize sodium azide in the preparation procedure. The UV–Vis and IR spectroscopic data are consistent with an azido ferrous porphyrinate. The X-ray structural analysis and the Mössbauer results indicate that the ion complex [Fe^II(TpivPP)(N₃)]⁻ is high-spin and has the (d_xy)²(d_xz)¹(d_yz)¹(d_z2)¹(d_x2-y2)¹$({\text{d}}_{\mathit{xy}}{)}^2({\text{d}}_{\mathit{xz}}{)}^1({\text{d}}_{\mathit{yz}}{)}^1({\text{d}}_{z^2}{)}^1({\text{d}}_{x^2-y^2}{)}^1$ ground state electronic configuration.     

Oxygen permeation of BSCF membrane with varying thickness and surface coating

The oxygen permeation of Ba_0.5Sr_0.5Co_0.8Fe_0.2O_3−δ (BSCF) membranes was measured between 750 and 900 °C as a function of membrane thickness with or without La_0.7Sr_0.3CoO₃ (LSC) coating layer under controlled PO₂-gradient$P_{{\text{O}}_2}\text{-gradient}$ (Air/He). In order to see the relative effects of bulk diffusion and surface-exchange kinetics, the thickness of membrane was varied from 0.5 to 2.0 mm. The oxygen-permeation flux at 900 °C increased with LSC coating from that of uncoated membrane. For example, it increased ∼1.8 times for 1 mm-thick BSCF membrane. The characteristic membrane thickness (L_C) which divides the bulk-diffusion limit and surface-exchange kinetics limit was estimated using the modified Wagner equation. The L_C values were 0.55 and 1.10 mm at 900 °C for the coated and uncoated BSCF membranes, respectively, and decreased with decreasing temperature.     

Iron organic speciation determination in rainwater using cathodic stripping voltammetry

A sensitive method using Competitive Ligand Exchange-Adsorptive Cathodic Stripping Voltammetry (CLE-ACSV) has been developed to determine for the first time iron (Fe) organic speciation in rainwater over the typical natural range of pH. We have adapted techniques previously developed in other natural waters to rainwater samples, using the competing ligand 1-nitroso-2-naphthol (NN). The blank was equal to 0.17 ± 0.05 nM (n = 14) and the detection limit (DL) for labile Fe was 0.15 nM which is 10–70 times lower than that of previously published methods. The conditional stability constant for NN under rainwater conditions was calibrated over the pH range 5.52–6.20 through competition with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). The calculated value of the logarithm of β^′_Fe3+(NN)3${{\beta }^{\prime }}_{{\text{Fe}}^{3+}{(\text{NN})}_3}$ increased linearly with increasing pH according to log β^′_Fe3+(NN)3=2.4±0.6×pH+11.9±3.5$\text{log}{{\beta }^{\prime }}_{{\text{Fe}}^{3+}{(\text{NN})}_3}=2.4\pm 0.6\times \text{pH}+11.9\pm 3.5$ (salinity = 2.9, T = 20 °C). The validation of the method was carried out using desferrioxamine mesylate B (DFOB) as a natural model ligand for Fe. Adequate detection windows were defined to detect this class of ligands in rainwater with 40 μM of NN from pH 5.52 to 6.20. The concentration of Fe-complexing natural ligands was determined for the first time in three unfiltered and one filtered rainwater samples. Organic Fe-complexing ligand concentrations varied from 104.2 ± 4.1 nM equivalent of Fe(III) to 336.2 ± 19.0 nM equivalent of Fe(III) and the logarithm of the conditional stability constants, with respect to Fe³⁺, varied from 21.1 ± 0.2 to 22.8 ± 0.3. This method will provide important data for improving our understanding of the role of wet deposition in the biogeochemical cycling of iron.     

Preparation and characterization of nanofiltration membranes by coating polyethersulfone hollow fibers with sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK)

A new type of nanofiltration membrane is reported based on coating a sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) layer on top of a polyethersulfone support. The membranes were characterized by dextran mixtures, salt solutions as well as negatively charged dyes. The SPEEK coated nanofiltration membranes showed molecular weight cutoff for dextran in the range of ultrafiltration, however, rather high rejection for sodium sulfate; retention for salts in the order of RNa₂SO₄>RNaCl>RMgCl₂$R_{\text{N}{\text{a}}_2\text{S}{\text{O}}_4}>R_{\text{NaCl}}>R_{\text{MgC}{\text{l}}_2}$; in addition, the membranes showed a 97–100% retention to the organic dyes. The rejection rates were improved by an increase in the coating thickness and the polymer concentration in the coating solution at the penalty of permeability decrease. Furthermore, it was found that pore penetration of SPEEK into the support membrane effectively constrained the swelling rate of SPEEK and increased the retention. The Donnan–Steric Pore Model was used to describe the transport properties of the membrane. Modeling identified a very tortuous passage within the active separation layer.