Selection of membrane materials for separation of H2-containing mixtures: Database analysis

Correlation between the chemical structure and transport characteristics of polyimides that are used for separation of hydrogen-containing mixtures is analyzed. The effect of various functional groups (keto-, oxy-, methoxy-, amino-, and others) in polyimides is considered in detail. The group-contribution method is demonstrated to be efficient for prediction of the transport properties of new polyimides and for the search for new promising diamine-dianhydride combinations. The empirical analysis of the database accumulated at the Topchiev Institute of Petrochemical Synthesis, Russian Academy of Sciences, confirms the perspectiveness of further investigations of new membrane materials for separation of H₂-CH₄ and H₂-CO gas pairs.