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. 2020 Sep 9;7(9):200795.
doi: 10.1098/rsos.200795. eCollection 2020 Sep.

Composite amine mixed matrix membranes for high-pressure CO2-CH4 separation: synthesis, characterization and performance evaluation

Nur Aqilah Bt Fauzan  1 , Hilmi Mukhtar  1 , Rizwan Nasir  2 , Dzeti Farhah Bt Mohshim  3 , Naviinthiran Arasu  1 , Zakaria Man  1 , Hafiz Abdul Mannan  4
Affiliations

Composite amine mixed matrix membranes for high-pressure CO2-CH4 separation: synthesis, characterization and performance evaluation

Nur Aqilah Bt Fauzan et al. R Soc Open Sci. .

Abstract

The key challenge in the synthesis of composite mixed matrix membrane (MMMs) is the incompatible membrane fabrication using porous support in the dry-wet phase inversion technique. The key objective of this research is to synthesize thin composite ternary (amine) mixed matrix membranes on microporous support by incorporating 10 wt% of carbon molecular sieve (CMS) and 5-15 wt% of diethanolamine (DEA) in polyethersulfone (PES) dope solution for the separation of carbon dioxide (CO2) from methane (CH4) at high-pressure applications. The developed membranes were evaluated for their morphological structure, thermal and mechanical stabilities, functional groups, as well as for CO2-CH4 separation performance at high pressure (10-30 bar). The results showed that the developed membranes have asymmetric structure, and they are mechanically strong at 30 bar. This new class of PES/CMS/DEA composite MMMs exhibited improved gas permeance compared to pure PES composite polymeric membrane. CO2-CH4 perm-selectivity enhanced from 8.15 to 16.04 at 15 wt% of DEA at 30 bar pressure. The performance of amine composite MMMs is theoretically predicted using a modified Maxwell model. The predictions were in good agreement with experimental data after applying the optimized values with AARE % = ∼less than 2% and R 2 = 0.99.

Keywords: CO2-CH4 separation; Maxwell model; composite mixed matrix membranes; high-pressure separation; performance prediction.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Representation of amine composite mixed matrix membranes.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Process for the membrane's preparation methodology.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Gas permeation test set up.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Cross-sectional and top view of pure PES composite membrane.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Top and cross-sectional view of composite mixed matrix membrane CM-C10.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Top and cross-sectional view of amine composite MMMs with 10 wt% CMS and (a) 5 wt% DEA, (b) 10 wt% DEA and (c) 15 wt% DEA.
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
Glass transition temperatures of developed composite membranes.
Figure 8.
Figure 8.
(a,b) Effect of pressure on the gas separation performance of amine composite mixed matrix membranes.
Figure 9.
Figure 9.
(a,b) Effect of DEA concentration on gas separation through amine composite MMMs.
Figure 10.
Figure 10.
Flow chart for the modelling of amine composite MMMs at high pressure.
Figure 11.
Figure 11.
CO2 relative permeability (experimental) versus relative permeability (calculated) by the modified Maxwell model.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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