Gas transport property of polyallylamine–poly(vinyl alcohol)/polysulfone composite membranes

Polyallylamine (PAAm) was synthesized by free radical polymerization and characterized by Fourier transform infrared resonance (FT-IR) spectroscopy, hydrogen nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR) spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The composite membranes were prepared by using PAAm–poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) blend polymer as the separation layer and polysulfone (PSF) ultrafiltration membranes as the support layer. The surface and cross-section morphology of the membrane was inspected by environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM). The gas transport property of the membranes, including gas permeance, flux and selectivity, were investigated by using pure CO₂, N₂, CH₄ gases and CO₂/N₂ gas mixture (20 vol% CO₂ and 80 vol% N₂) and CO₂/CH₄ gas mixture (10 vol% CO₂ and 90 vol% CH₄). The plots of gas permeance or flux versus feed gas pressure imply that CO₂ permeation through the membranes follows facilitated transport mechanism whereas N₂ and CH₄ permeation follows solution–diffusion mechanism. Effect of PAAm content in the separation layer on gas transport property was investigated by measuring the membranes with 0–50 wt% PAAm content. With increasing PAAm content, gas permeance increases initially, reaches a maximum, and then decreases gradually. For CO₂/N₂ gas mixture, the membranes with 10 wt% PAAm content show the highest CO₂ permeance of about 1.80 × 10⁻⁵ cm³ (STP) cm⁻² s⁻¹ KPa⁻¹ and CO₂/N₂ selectivity of 80 at 0.1 MPa feed gas pressure. For CO₂/CH₄ gas mixture, the membranes with 20 wt% PAAm content display the highest CO₂ permeance of about 1.95 × 10⁻⁵ cm³ (STP) cm⁻² s⁻¹ KPa⁻¹ and CO₂/CH₄ selectivity of 58 at 0.1 MPa feed gas pressure. In order to explore the possible reason of gas permeance varying with PAAm content, the crystallinity of PVA and PAAm–PVA blend polymers was measured by X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra. The experimental results show an inverse relationship between crystallinity and gas permeance, e.g., a minimum crystallinity and a maximum CO₂ permeance are obtained at 20 wt% PAAm content, indicating that the possibility of increasing CO₂ permeance with PAAm content due to the increase of carrier concentration could be weakened by the increase of crystallinity.     

Poly(N,N-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate)–poly(ethylene oxide) copolymer membranes for selective separation of CO2

A series of copolymers containing ether oxygen groups and amino groups were prepared based on N,N-dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DMEMA) and polyethylene glycol methyl ether methyl acrylate (PEGMEMA). The effect of PEGMEMA content in the copolymer on density, free volume, mechanical performance, and H₂, CO₂, N₂ and CH₄ gas transport properties of the copolymer was determined. Free volume was characterized using the polymer density and group contribution theory. The permeability of the copolymer to CO₂ is high, and both the CO₂/N₂ and CO₂/H₂ selectivities are high. For example, the permeability coefficient of PDMAEMA–PEGMEMA-90 (“90” represents the weight percent of PEGMEMA) to CO₂ is 112 Barrer and the CO₂/N₂ and CO₂/H₂ selectivity coefficients are 31 and 7, respectively. The effect of the temperature on gas transport properties was also determined. Finally, the potential application of the copolymer membranes for CO₂/light gases separation was explored.     

Tertiary amine-mediated synthesis of microporous carbon membranes

Microporous carbon membranes were prepared on an -alumina support by a pyrolysis of cationic tertiary amine/anionic polymer composites. The precursor solutions contain a thermosetting resorcinol/formaldehyde (RF) polymer and a cationic tertiary amine. Three types of cationic tertiary amines with different chain lengths were used, such as tetramethlammonium bromide (TMAB), tetrapropylammonium bromide (TPAB) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). A porous structure was produced by a decomposition of the amine and the resulting pores assisted the further gasification of the RF polymer at high temperature. The carbon/alumina membranes have thin and continuous carbon top layers with a thickness of 1 μm. Gas permeation tests were performed using single gases of CO₂, O₂, N₂, CF₄, n-C₄H₁₀ and i-C₄H₁₀, as well as binary mixtures of CH₄/n-C₄H₁₀ and N₂/CF₄ at different temperatures between 23 and 150 °C. The carbon membrane prepared using TMAB showed separation factors higher than 650 for the CH₄/n-C₄H₁₀ mixtures and higher than 8100 for the N₂/CF₄ mixture. From the permeation of pure gases with different molecular sizes, the pore sizes of the carbon membrane prepared using TMAB, TPAB and CTAB are estimated to be 4.0, 5.0 and larger than 5.5 Å, respectively, indicating that the micropore size of the carbon membranes is controllable by using different amines.     

Gas permeability in rubbery polyphosphazene membranes

The synthesis, characterization, and gas permeability of 10 new polyphosphazenes has been studied. Additionally, the first gas permeation data has been collected on hydrolytically unstable poly[bis-(chloro)phosphazene]. Gases used in this study include CO₂, CH₄, O₂, N₂, H₂, and Ar. CO₂ was the most permeable gas through any of the phosphazenes and a direct correlation between the T_g of the polymer and CO₂ transport was noted with permeability increasing with decreasing polymer T_g. To a lesser degree, permeability of all the other gases studied also yielded increases with decreasing polymer T_g. The trend observed for these new polymers was further supported by published data for other phosphazenes. Furthermore, permeability data for all gases were found to correlate to the gas condensability and the gas critical pressures, except for hydrogen, suggesting that the nature of the gas is also a significant factor for permeation through rubbery phosphazene membranes. Ideal separation factors () for the CO₂/H₂ and CO₂/CH₄ gas pairs were calculated. For CO₂/CH₄, no increase in was observed with decreasing T_g, however increases in were noted for the CO₂/H₂ pair.     

三通道气相色谱法监测大气中CH_(4)、CO、CO_(2)、N_(2)O和SF_(6)北大核心CSCD

我国正处于“碳达峰、碳中和”的关键时期,准确认识我国温室气体浓度时空格局以及变化对于评估“碳达峰”和“碳中和”行动成效非常重要。当前我国近地面温室气体高精度监测主要依赖进口的光学监测主机,单台仪器成本高且监测要素有限。为此,该研究基于传统的气相色谱法,自主设计了一套三通道气相色谱分析系统,在单台仪器上实现了5种主要长寿命温室气体(CH_(4)、CO、CO_(2)、N_(2)O和SF_(6))的高精度监测。对该系统的精密度、线性响应情况和准确度进行的针对性测试实验表明系统检测性能满足世界气象组织/全球大气观测(WMO/GAW)质控标准。针对环境浓度的CH_(4)、CO、CO_(2)、N_(2)O和SF_(6)的连续分析精密度分别达0.08%、1.90%、0.05%、0.08%、0.66%。准确度测试中,5种气体(CH_(4)、CO、CO_(2)、N_(2)O和SF_(6))使用回归方程计算所得值与标称摩尔分数间的偏差分别达0.15×10-9、0.20×10-9、0.37×10-6、0.35×10-9、0.02×10-12(摩尔分数),CH_(4)、CO、CO_(2)、N_(2)O和SF_(6)仪器响应值与标称摩尔分数的线性拟合相关系数(R2)均为0.9999,线性拟合残差和准确度基本达到WMO/GAW拓展质控目标。该系统对杭州城区大气温室气体在线连续监测结果显示,2021年5~7月期间大气CH_(4)、CO、CO_(2)和N_(2)O呈明显的日变化特征,主要受人为活动影响。综合测试和试运行结果表明,该研发系统具备良好的精密度、准确度、线性和稳定性,与目前国内广泛进口的仪器相比,具有技术自主可控、运行成本更低、自动化水平更高等优势,能满足多种温室气体在线监测研究的需求。     

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.     

Systematic investigation of the effects of temperature and pressure on gas transport through polyurethane/poly(methylmethacrylate) phase-separated blends

Polyurethane (PU) and polyurethane–poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) blend membranes were used in gas separation studies. The effects of blend composition, temperature, and pressure on the permeability, diffusivity, and solubility of CO₂, H₂, O₂, CH₄, and N₂ were investigated. The separation factors of some gas pairs were also evaluated. Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy was applied to assess free volume changes as a function of blend composition and temperature. Free volume size increases by approximately 30% with increasing temperature from 10 to 40 °C for all blends studied. The permeability of all gases decreases by approximately 55% with the addition of 30 wt% of PMMA. The permeation process is governed by diffusion, except that of CO₂. In relation to the behavior of gas transport as a function of temperature, some important observations are (i) CO₂ presents the lowest permeation activation energy value (28 kJ/mol), and (ii) gas pair selectivity increases at low temperatures and is high for gas pairs that present differences in permeation activation energies as high as 15 kJ/mol for the CO₂/CH₄ gas pair. Furthermore, the study with pressure variations shows that: (i) at elevated pressure, the PU and the blend membrane permeability to CO₂ and H₂ increases by approximately 35%, and (ii) oxygen-to-nitrogen selectivity increases with pressure as a consequence of the decrease in the permeability to nitrogen in the case of the 30%-PMMA blend.     

Solubility of methane in cellulose acetate — conditioning effect of carbon dioxide

The solubility of CH₄ and CO₂ in cellulose 2.4-acetate membranes was measured at temperatures between —10° and 30°C, and at pressures of up to 40 atm. Pre-exposure of the membrane samples to high-pressure CO₂ caused an increase in the solubility of CH₄, as well as of CO₂ [2]. In contrast, pre-exposure of the samples to high-pressure CH₄ did not alter the solubility of either CH₄ or CO₂. A similar “conditioning effect” by high-pressure CO₂ was also observed with other glassy polymers by Paul et al. [9-11], who reasonably attributed it to the non-equilibrium nature of the glassy state. The solubility isotherms for CH₄ and CO₂ in cellulose 2.4-acetate can be fitted to the “dual-mode” sorption model [1], but a consideration of the heats of solution suggests that a “two Langmuir sites” model [16] may offer a more satisfactory representation of the data. The cellulose acetate samples employed in this study were prepared by drying reverse osmosis membranes and are believed to have contained a large amount of free volume.     

多孔材料表面修饰聚酰亚胺非对称混合基质膜对CO2/N2和CO2/CH4的气体分离

兼具高通量和高选择性的气体分离膜是研究膜分离材料的目标.采用相转化法制备了聚酰亚胺非对称膜,并将其作为基底膜材料,分别在其表面修饰掺有金属有机框架材料Cu₃(BTC)₂ (1, 3, 5-均苯三甲酸合铜),沸石咪唑酯骨架材料ZIF-8以及镁铝水滑石MgAl-LDHs的聚酰胺酸溶液,经热亚胺化后制成非对称混合基质膜.研究了该系列非对称混合基质膜的结构特性和对CO₂、CH₄和N₂气体分离性能;考察了ZIF-8的掺杂量对非对称混合基质膜透气性能的影响.结果表明非对称聚酰亚胺膜的表面修饰可有效地改变膜的表面性质,掺杂ZIF-8的非对称混合基质膜气体的透气性能和选择性都增加,且掺杂量为5% (w)时CO₂/N₂和CO₂/CH₄的理想选择性分别高达24和83,为合成高效的CO₂分离膜提供了借鉴.     

含叔丁基聚酰亚胺均质膜的气体分离性能

采用高温“一步法”缩聚合成了一系列含叔丁基的可溶性芳香聚酰亚胺树脂, 然后通过溶液浇注法制得相应均质薄膜, 并对其气体分离性能进行了测试, 同时研究了二酐结构和温度对聚酰亚胺均质膜气体分离性能的影响. 结果表明, 对于H₂, N₂, O₂, CO₂和CH₄ 等5种气体, 含叔丁基聚酰亚胺均质膜不仅表现出良好的透气性, 而且具有较高的气体透过选择性, 4,4'-(六氟异丙烯)二酞酸酐(6FDA)和均苯四甲酸二酐(PMDA)两类聚酰亚胺均质膜的气体分离性能最佳. 除CO₂外, 这两类聚酰亚胺均质膜的气体渗透系数随温度升高而升高, 而所有测试气体在这两种均质膜中的扩散系数和溶解度系数均随温度升高而增大.     

Microwave-assisted pyrolysis of CH4/N2 mixtures over activated carbon

The aim of this work was to study the microwave-assisted pyrolysis of CH₄ over an activated carbon, which acted as both microwave receptor and catalyst, and the influence of using different CH₄/N₂ ratios on the conversion of CH₄ to H₂. In order to compare the results obtained in the microwave oven, the pyrolysis was also carried out under conventional heating (electric furnace, EF). The effects of N₂, which enhanced significantly CH₄ conversion, differed depending on the heating device used. Under EF heating, N₂ seemed to have an effect similar to distribute the CH₄ molecules within the activated carbon bed. Under microwave heating (MW), the N₂, as well as distributing the CH₄ molecules, favoured the generation of energetic microplasmas, leading to higher conversions. The prevalence of one role over the other depended on the CH₄/N₂ ratio, the appearance of energetic microplasmas being favoured with high percentages of N₂. Consequently, CH₄ conversion was higher at low CH₄/N₂ ratios. Additionally, the formation of carbon nanofibres in experiments where a combination of N₂ and MW heating was used is also reported.     

Gas transport properties of poly(ethylene oxide-co-epichlorohydrin) membranes

Gas permeation properties of crosslinked membranes prepared from a series of poly(ethylene oxide-co-epichlorohydrin) (P(EO/EP)) copolymers with different contents of ethylene oxide are determined by using the constant-volume and pressure-increase method. In addition to the chemical composition, the transport properties are related to the main characteristics of copolymers like the glass transition temperature, crystallinity and crosslinking ratio. Permeation measurements of He, H₂, N₂, O₂, CO₂ and CH₄ show that the permeabilities are nearly constant up to an EO content of about 75–80 mol%, then increase rapidly up to a maximum around 90 mol% of EO in the copolymers. The same behavior is observed for the diffusion coefficient and the CO₂ sorption coefficient. The presence of an optimal EO composition is explained by the competition between crystalline and amorphous EO sequences. The copolymers present very high CO₂ permeability and selectivity respect to other permanent gases even in gas mixtures and under high pressures.     

Molecular beam maser measurements of relaxation cross sections in NH3

Direct measurements of scattering cross sections for NH₃ in well-defined quantum states are made using a molecular beam maser spectrometer. Cross sections are compared for a pure inversion state with those for a coherent superposition state for scattering gases He, Ar, N₂, N₂O, NH₃, CH₃H and CH₃CN. The cross sections are significantly larger for scattering of the pure inversion state by NH₃, CF₃H and CH₃CN than for scattering of the superposition state. The scattering is the same for both states on non-polar gases. These cross sections are related to relaxation parameters describing transitions between rotation and inversion states.     

Novel CO2 selectively permeating membranes containing PETEDA dendrimer

Pentaerythrityl tetraethylenediamine (PETEDA) dendrimer was synthesized from pentaerythrityl tetrabromide and ethylenediamine. Its molecular structure was characterized by elemental analysis, Fourier transform infrared resonance (FT-IR) and hydrogen nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR) spectroscopy. The composite membranes for selectively permeating CO₂ were prepared by using PETEDA-PVA blend polymer as the active layer and polyethersulfone (PES) ultrafiltration membrane as the support layer and their permselectivity was tested by pure CO₂ and CH₄ gases and the gas mixture containing 10 vol.% CO₂ and 90 vol.% CH₄, respectively. For pure gases, the membrane containing 78.6 wt% PETEDA and 21.4 wt% PVA in the blend has a CO₂ permeance of 8.14 × 10⁻⁵ cm³ (STP) cm⁻² s⁻¹ cmHg⁻¹ and CO₂/CH₄ selectivity of 52 at 143.5 cmHg feed gas pressure. While feed gas pressure is 991.2 cmHg, CO₂ permeance reaches 3.56 × 10⁻⁵ cm³ (STP) cm⁻² s⁻¹ cmHg⁻¹ and CO₂/CH₄ selectivity is 19. For the gas mixture, the membrane has a CO₂ permeance of 6.94 × 10⁻⁵ cm³ (STP) cm⁻² s⁻¹ cmHg⁻¹ with a CO₂/CH₄ selectivity of 33 at 188.5 cmHg feed gas pressure, and a CO₂ permeance of 3.29 × 10⁻⁵ cm³ (STP) cm⁻² s⁻¹ cmHg⁻¹ with a CO₂/CH₄ selectivity of 7.5 at a higher feed gas pressure of 1164 cmHg. A possible gas transport mechanism in the composite membranes is proposed by investigating the permeating behavior of pure gases and the gas mixture and analyzing possible reactions between CO₂/CH₄ gases and the PETEDA-PVA blend polymer. The effect of PETEDA content in the blend polymer on permselectivity of the composite membranes was investigated, presenting that CO₂ permeance and CO₂/CH₄ selectivity increase and CH₄ permeance decreases, respectively with PETEDA content. This is explained by that with increasing PETEDA content, the carrier content increases, and the crystallinity and free volume of the PETEDA-PVA blend decrease that were confirmed by the experimental results of X-ray diffraction spectra (XRD) and positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS).     

Intermolecular potentials obtained from high-energy alkali scattering

Intermolecular potentials have been obtained from high-energy total cross sections for several alkali metal systems: CS + He, Ne, Ar, CH₃NO₂; K + CH₄, C(CH₃)₄, C₆H₆, c-C₆H₁₂, CH₃I, CCl₄, SF₆, N₂. For the CS-rare gas cases and K + N₂ only the repulsive part was determined. For the rest both attractive and repulsive parts were seen.     

Modified poly(phenylene oxide) membranes for the separation of carbon dioxide from methane

Two types of poly(phenylene oxide) (PPO) membranes were prepared: one by chemical modification through sulfonation using chlorosulfonic acid and another by physical incorporation with a heteropolyacid (HPA), viz., phosphotungstic acid. These membranes were tested for the separation of CO₂/CH₄ mixtures. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction techniques were used to confirm the modified structure of PPO as well as to understand its interactions with gaseous molecules. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to investigate the membrane morphology. Thermal stability of the modified polymers was assessed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), while the tensile strength was measured to evaluate their mechanical stability. Both chemical and physical modifications did not adversely affect the thermally and mechanical stabilities. Experiments with pure CO₂ and CH₄ gases showed that CO₂ selectivity (27.2) for SPPO increased by a factor of 2.2, while the PPO–HPA membrane exhibited 1.7 times increase in selectivity with a reasonable permeability of 28.2 Barrer. An increase in flux was observed for the binary CO₂/CH₄ mixture permeation with an increasing feed concentration (5–40 mol%) of CO₂. An enhancement in feed pressure from 5 to 40 kg/cm² resulted in reduced CO₂ permeability and selectivity due to the competitive sorption of methane. Both the modified PPO membranes were found to be promising for enrichment of methane despite exhibiting lower permeability values than the pristine PPO membrane.     

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.     

添加气对非平衡等离子体转化低碳烷烃的影响

在常压下, 研究了添加气的种类(N₂, He, Ar, H₂, NH₃, CO和CO₂)对介质阻挡放电低碳烷烃(甲烷、 乙烷和丙烷)转化制低碳烯烃的影响. 结果表明, 以甲烷或乙烷为原料时, N₂, He, Ar和CO的引入有利于提高原料的转化率和总烯烃的选择性; 而CO₂, H₂和NH₃的引入对甲烷、 乙烷的转化率无明显影响, 但H₂和NH₃的引入会使总烯烃的选择性显著降低. 以丙烷为原料时, 所研究的添加气均可提高丙烷的转化率, 而只有CO的引入可提高总烯烃选择性. 综上所述, 80%(摩尔分数) CO添加量最有利于低碳烷烃转化成低碳烯烃, 对应的甲烷、 乙烷和丙烷的转化率分别提高了14.4%, 17.6%和42.8%, 总烯烃的选择性分别提高了19.9%, 25.0%和11.9%. 以CH₄为例, 通过对放电电流波形和等离子体区物种的发射光谱(OES)研究发现, 引入CO能显著增加等离子体的电子密度, 并且体系中出现激发态O^*物种(777.5和844.7 nm), 这种O^*物种能够促进C-H键的断裂, 有利于烯烃的生成. 因此, 等离子体区电子密度的增加和激发态O^*物种的出现可能是CH₄-CO体系中CH₄有效转化的主要原因.     

Gas permeation properties of asymmetric carbon hollow fiber membranes prepared from asymmetric polyimide hollow fiber

Asymmetric carbon hollow fiber membranes were prepared by pyrolysis of an asymmetric polyimide hollow fiber membrane, and their mechanical and permeation properties were investigated. The carbon membrane had higher elastic modulus and lower breaking elongation than the polyimide membrane. Permeation experiments were performed for single gases such as H₂, CO₂, and CH₄, and for mixed gases such as H₂/CH₄ at high feed pressure ranging from 1 to 5 MPa with or without toluene vapor. The permeation properties of the carbon membranes and the polyimide membrane were compared. There was little change in the properties of the carbon membranes with a passage of time. The properties were hardly affected by the feed pressure, whether the feed was accompanied with the toluene vapor or not, because the carbon membranes were not affected by compaction and plasticization.     

理论空燃比天然气汽车尾气中H2O和O2对CH4与NO反应的影响

共沉淀法制备CeZrYLa+LaAl 复合氧化物载体, 等体积浸渍法制备了Pt 催化剂, 用于研究理论空燃比天然气汽车(NGVs)尾气净化反应中CH₄与NO的反应规律. 并考察了10% (体积分数, φ)H₂O和计量比O₂对CO₂存在时的CH₄+NO反应的影响. 结果表明: 对于不同条件下的NO+CH₄反应, 主要生成N₂和CO₂, 高温区有CO生成. 低温区无O₂时可以生成N₂O, 有O₂时可以生成NO₂; 添加10% (φ)的H₂O后, CH₄ 转化活性降低, NO转化活性基本不变, 这是由于H₂O减弱了CH₄与CO₂的重整反应, 但是对CH₄与NO的反应基本没有影响; 添加计量比的O₂后, CH₄转化活性提高, 而NO转化活性降低, 这是由于O₂和NO之间存在竞争吸附, CH₄被O₂氧化为主要反应, 从而减弱了NO的转化; 同时添加计量比的O₂和10% (φ) H₂O, CH₄与CO₂的重整反应受到抑制,CH₄与NO的反应、甲烷蒸汽重整反应和甲烷被O₂氧化反应同时发生, CH₄和NO的转化活性均提高.