Sharif Digital Repository

Gas separation properties of commercially available polyphenylene oxide (PPO) and Cardo-type polyimide (PI) hollow fiber membranes were investigated by CO2/CH4 and O2/N2 separation experiments. The pure gas permeation and the mixed gas separation experiments indicated that the two hollow fiber membranes were suitable candidates for O2/N2 and CO2/CH4 separations. Average O2/N2 permselectivities of 3.9 and 5.7 for PPO and PI hollow fibers, respectively, average CO2/CH4 permselectivities of 16.4 and 36.0 for PPO and PI hollow fibers, respectively, CO2 permeances of 210 and 110 GPU at 100 psig for PPO and PI hollow fibers, and O2 permeances of 40 GPU and 15 GPU for PPO and PI hollow fibers were... 

In this study, crosslinked and non-crosslinked carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) membranes were prepared with different concentrations of polymer. Then, the permeability of pure CO2, N2, and CH4 was measured through these membranes in dry state to investigate the influence of polymer concentration and applied feed pressure on permeability and permselectivity. The permeability of CO2 through membranes was higher than the other gases. A comparison of permeabilities revealed that the permeability of N2, CO2, and CH4 increased on an average of 33, 40 and 20 percent, respectivly, by increasing the feed pressure from 6 to 10... 

The oxygen-barrier properties of poly(lactic acid) (PLA)/poly(vinyl acetate-co-vinyl alcohol) [P(VAc-co-VA)] were investigated. P(VAc-co-VA)s with vinyl alcohol (VA) contents of 5, 10, and 15 mol % were prepared with the acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of poly(vinyl acetate). The obtained copolymers with various contents of VA were blended with PLA at 5/95, 10/90, and 15/85 compositions. Films of the blends were prepared by a solution-casting method with chloroform as the cosolvent. Although the blend with 5% VA in the copolymer appeared to be miscible, the blends with 10 and 15% VA content in the copolymer were immiscible, as verified by dynamic mechanical analysis. The oxygen-barrier properties... 

We demonstrated a novel mixed-matrix composite membrane (MMCM) based on acrylated polyurethane (APU) and UiO-66 nanoparticles to separate CO 2 /N 2 mixture. UiO-66 and functionalized UiO-66 including NH 2 -UiO-66 and glycidyl methacrylate (GMA)-UiO-66 were loaded into APU/2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (APUH) matrix at variable concentrations between 3 and 30 wt %. APUH/GMA-UiO-66 MMCMs exhibited strong adhesion with a support layer of polyester/polysulfone, which was not deteriorated after immersion in water for a long time (20 days). Incorporation of UiO-66 and its functionalized forms increased simultaneously permeability and CO 2 /N 2 selectivity, which were indeed superior in comparison... 

In this work, poly(vinyl) alcohol (PVA)/poly(ethylene) glycol (PEG) 600 g/mol cross-linked membranes with different alumina (Al2O3) content were synthesized. The membranes were then characterized by FTIR, TGA, DSC, SEM, mechanical strength and permeation properties for carbon dioxide and nitrogen gases at different operating temperatures. The FTIR results confirmed the acetal linkages of cross-linking at 1083 cm−1 and the presence of stretching and bending peaks of Al-O bond at 598 and 444 cm−1, respectively. TGA results showed that the thermal stabilities of the membranes improved with the addition of alumina particles. DSC analysis proved that the glass transition temperature of the... 

Mixed-matrix membranes (MMMs) are promising candidates for carbon dioxide separation. However, their application is limited due to improper dispersion of fillers within the polymer matrix, poor interaction of fillers with polymer chains, and formation of defects and micro-voids at the interface of both phases, which all result in the decline of the gas separation performance of MMMs. In this work, we present a new method to overcome these challenges. To this end, a series of MMMs based on polyethersulfone (PES) as the continuous polymer matrix and MIL-53-derived MOFs as the dispersed filler were prepared. FTIR-ATR, XRD, TGA, FESEM, and N2 adsorption/desorption analyses were employed to... 

The gas separation properties of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) membranes containing 18 and 28 wt% of vinyl acetate (VA) were investigated in this study. The effects of membrane preparation conditions, such as thermal and thermal/wet phase inversion, and the type of solvent on the gas separation properties of EVA membranes were investigated. The permeation of pure O2, N2, CH4, and CO2 gases at different feed pressures ranging from 2 to 11 bar were examined. The results indicated that the CO2 permeability was evidently higher than those of the other gases. Furthermore, the solubility mechanism was found to be the dominant mechanism for permeation of gases through EVA membranes. Moreover, the... 

In this study, a two-stage membrane system for the separation of CH4/CO2 was designed based on a series of laboratory-scale experiments obtained using two types of commercial hollow fiber membranes including polyphenylene oxide (PPO) and Cardo-type polyimide (PI). The former showed high permeability and low to moderate selectivity, while the latter exhibited high selectivity and moderate permeability. In this design, the permeate from the first stage - rich in CO2 but containing considerable amount of methane - is fed into the second stage to recover its methane content. The performances of double- and single-stage system designs were compared in terms of methane loss (the ratio of methane... 

Interesting properties of ionic liquids lead to their application as sub-component of membrane structures. Supported ionic liquid membranes (SILMs) are porous membranes whose pores are saturated with ionic liquids. Two ionic liquids, pr[mim]2[Tf2N]2 [1,3-di(3-methyl-imidazolium) propane bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl) imide] and, h[mim]2 [Tf2N]2 [(1,6-di(3-methylimidazolium)hexane bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide)], were synthesized in our laboratory and stabilized on an alumina porous support. Permeability and permselectivity of carbon dioxide and methane using membranes containing these ionic liquids were then measured. The experiments were performed in the pressure range of 10-50kPa and... 

Phase separation is one of the common methods for fabrication of polymeric membrane, which classifies into the categories of Thermally Induced Phase Separation (TIPS) and Nonsolvent Induced Phase Separation (NIPS), i.e. heat and mass transfer induced phase separation, respectively. NIPS has been applied more commonly than TIPS, but the membranes which have resulted from this technique have macro finger-like voids, weak mechanical strength and not high separation ability in comparison with the TIPS. In contrast, membranes produced by the TIPS method have micro scale pores, high mechanical strength and also high separation capability, however, polymeric solutions prepared at high temperatures... 

Low-frequency O 2 plasma was used to modify the surface of polysulfone gas-separation membranes. The effects of the treatment time and plasma power input on the membranes were also investigated. Pure CO 2 and CH 4 gas-permeation measurements were performed before and after plasma treatment. The results show the increase of permeability of the treated membranes due to surface ablation and surface polarization up to 5.63 and 68.80 gas-permeation units for CH 4 and CO 2, respectively, whereas, the CO 2/CH 4 selectivity of the treated membranes varied from 7.7 to 45.3, depending on the treatment conditions. Attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy determined the... 

In this article an attempt was made to fabricate defect-free asymmetric polysulfone (PSf) membranes for the separation of oxygen and nitrogen. The approach is based on the enhanced delayed demixing by blending surface modifying macromolecules (SMMs) in the casting solution and by immersing the cast film in isopropanol for a certain period before it is immersed in water. Different SMMs, including hydrophobic and charged SMMs, were synthesized, characterized, and blended to the host PSf. It was found that the charged SMM could indeed contribute to the removal of defective pores from the skin layer and enhancement of oxygen/nitrogen selectivity. The experimental results were further interpreted... 

MCM-41 nanoparticles were prepared by in situ assembly of inorganic precursors and CTAB. The structure of nanoparticles was characterized by XRD, TEM, particle size analysis, N2 adsorption techniques. The surface modification of particles in order to perfect dispersion in polysulfone (PSf) matrix was performed by dimethyldichlorosilane (DMDCS) and aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (APTMS) as new modification agents. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and SEM analysis were applied to investigate thermal stability, glass transition temperature and quality of distribution of particle in the nanocomposite membrane, respectively. The PDMS was used to coat the... 

Abstract In this study, Molecular Dynamics (MD) and Grand Canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations were conducted to investigate the diffusivity, solubility, and permeability of CO2, CO, H2, and H2O in a polyurethane membrane at three different temperatures. The characterization of the simulated structures was carried out using XRD, FFV, Tg and density calculation, and cavity size distribution. The obtained results were within the expectations reported data in the literature based on the experimental approach, indicating the authenticity of approached in this work. The results showed that the highest diffusivity and permeability coefficients were observed for... 

In the present work, graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) were incorporated at low-density polyethylene (LDPE)/ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymer blend using solution casting method. Monolayer GO with 1-nm thickness and good transparency was synthesized using the well-known Hummers's method. Fourier transform infrared and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy data exhibited efficient reduction of GO with almost high C/O ratio of RGO. Scanning electron microscopy showed the well distribution of GO and RGO within LDPE/EVA polymer matrix. The integrating effects of GO and RGO on mechanical and gas permeability of prepared films were examined. Young's modulus of nanocomposites are... 

Zeolite SAPO-34 was used for fabrication of mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) to improve the CO2/CH4/N2 gas separation performance of the neat Pebax1074 membrane. Permeability and selectivity of the MMMs were studied at different temperatures of 25-65°C and pressures of 4-24 bars. Also sorption of different gases in MMMs was measured at 35°C and different pressures, which showed enhanced solubility coefficients. Moreover, thermal, morphological and mechanical properties of MMMs were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and tensile analysis. The results showed excellent improvement in... 

In this research, a triethylene glycol (TEG)/nano-zeolite Na-Y liquid membrane was developed in order to investigate the effect of zeolite nanoparticles on separation performance of a liquid membrane. To do this, a high yield nano-zeolite Na-Y was synthesized using mid-synthesis addition method. The synthesized samples were characterized by XRD, FT-IR, and SEM (EDX) instrumental techniques. A supported liquid membrane was prepared by impregnating a porous hydrophilic PVDF support with TEG and nano-zeolite Na-Y. The permeation tests of single gas components of O2, N2 and CO2 were carried out at pressure differences of 0.8 and 1.8 bar. The permeances of the single gases were found to be: CO2 >... 

Pore network modeling of porous media has this advantage that can consider the pore structure incorporating any desired details, but it has not been studied sufficiently. In addition, most studies are limited to mathematical modeling only which need validation. In the present study, this approach was applied to hydrogen separation from syngas by nanoporous ceramic membrane to predict the membrane permeance theoretically based on its pore structure. Gas transport through nanoporous membrane was modeled with the aim of a 2D network model. A dusty gas model was used for gas transport in the individual pores. Model validation showed that the model predictions are in good agreement with the... 

In this research, Plackett–Burman experimental design was used as a screening method to investigate seven processing factors in the preparation of new polyethersulfone based porous nanocomposite membrane. Polymer concentration, nanoparticle type, nanoparticle concentration, solvent type, solution mixing time, evaporation time, and annealing temperature are variables that were evaluated to fabricate mixed matrix membranes using the evaporation phase inversion method for gas separation. According to obtained results, polymer concentration, nanoparticle concentration, solution mixing time, and evaporation time processing factors had significant effects on gas permeation. In addition, the... 

In recent years carbon nanotubes and other carbon nanostructures such as graphene sheets have attracted a lot of attention due to their unique mechanical, thermal and electrical properties. These structures can be used in desalination of sea water, removal of hazardous substances from water tanks, gases separation, and so on. The nanoporous single layer graphene membranes are very efficient for desalinating water due to their very low thickness. In this method, water-flow thorough the membrane and salt rejection strongly depend on the applied pressure and size of nanopores that are created in graphene membrane. In this study, the mechanism of passing water and salt ions through nanoporous...