Polymer Membranes for Gas Separation, Volume II

A special issue of Membranes (ISSN 2077-0375). This special issue belongs to the section "Membrane Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 November 2022) | Viewed by 6777

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh, Robert Stevenson Road, Edinburgh EH9 3FB, UK
Interests: membrane technology; gas separation; nanofibres; thin-film composite; mixed-matrices membranes
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Guest Editor
Institute of Sustainable Processes, University of Valladolid, Dr. Mergelina s/n., 47011 Valladolid, Spain
Interests: polymers of intrinsic microporosity; thermally rearranged polymers; polymer design and synthesis; gas separation membranes

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Over the past decade, polymeric membranes have been widely investigated for a variety of industrial gas separation applications. In today’s competitive and ever-changing environment, membrane gas separation is now widely accepted as an economic process to produce moderate purity stream gases.

This Special Issue on “Polymer Membranes for Gas Separation” of the journal Membranes seeks contributions to assess the state-of-the-art and future developments in the field of polymeric membranes. Topics include but are not limited to the synthesis and characterization of novel membrane materials, preparation and characterization of thin film composite and/or hollow fibers, membrane aging, transport phenomena and demonstration efforts and industrial exploitation. Authors are invited to submit their latest results; both original papers and reviews are welcome.

We look forward to receiving your outstanding work for this Special Issue.

Dr. Elsa Lasseuguette
Dr. Bibiana Comesaña-Gándara
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • Polymeric membranes
  • Gas separation
  • Thin film composite
  • Hollow fiber
  • Aging
  • Transport phenomena
  • High performance membranes

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 3721 KiB  
Article
Gas Permeability, Fractional Free Volume and Molecular Kinetic Diameters: The Effect of Thermal Rearrangement on ortho-hydroxy Polyamide Membranes Loaded with a Porous Polymer Network
by Cenit Soto, Edwin S. Torres-Cuevas, Laura Palacio, Pedro Prádanos, Benny D. Freeman, Ángel E. Lozano, Antonio Hernández and Bibiana Comesaña-Gándara
Membranes 2022, 12(2), 200; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12020200 - 9 Feb 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2931
Abstract
Mixed-matrix membranes (MMMs) consisting of an ortho-hydroxy polyamide (HPA) matrix, and variable loads of a porous polymer network (PPN) were thermally treated to induce the transformation of HPA to polybenzoxazole (β-TR-PBO). Two different HPAs were synthesized to be used as a matrix, [...] Read more.
Mixed-matrix membranes (MMMs) consisting of an ortho-hydroxy polyamide (HPA) matrix, and variable loads of a porous polymer network (PPN) were thermally treated to induce the transformation of HPA to polybenzoxazole (β-TR-PBO). Two different HPAs were synthesized to be used as a matrix, 6FCl-APAF and tBTpCl-APAF, while the PPN used as a filler was prepared by reacting triptycene and trifluoroacetophenone. The permeability of He, H2, N2, O2, CH4 and CO2 gases through these MMMs are analyzed as a function of the fraction of free volume (FFV) of the membrane and the kinetic diameter of the gas, allowing for the evaluation of the free volume. Thermal rearrangement entails an increase in the FFV. Both before and after thermal rearrangement, the free volume increases with the PPN content very similarly for both polymeric matrices. It is shown that there is a portion of free volume that is inaccessible to permeation (occluded volume), probably due to it being trapped within the filler. In fact, permeability and selectivity change below what could be expected according to densities, when the fraction of occluded volume increases. A higher filler load increases the percentage of inaccessible or trapped free volume, probably due to the increasing agglomeration of the filler. On the other hand, the phenomenon is slightly affected by thermal rearrangement. The fraction of trapped free volume seems to be lower for membranes in which the tBTpCl-APAF is used as a matrix than for those with a 6FCl-APAF matrix, possibly because tBTpCl-APAF could approach the PPN better. The application of an effective medium theory for permeability allowed us to extrapolate for a 100% filler, giving the same value for both thermally rearranged and non-rearranged MMMs. The pure filler could also be extrapolated by assuming the same tendency as in the Robeson’s plots for MMMs with low filler content. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Membranes for Gas Separation, Volume II)
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19 pages, 4695 KiB  
Article
Mixed Matrix Membranes Based on Torlon® and ZIF-8 for High-Temperature, Size-Selective Gas Separations
by Matilde De Pascale, Francesco Maria Benedetti, Elsa Lasseuguette, Maria-Chiara Ferrari, Kseniya Papchenko, Micaela Degli Esposti, Paola Fabbri and Maria Grazia De Angelis
Membranes 2021, 11(12), 982; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11120982 - 15 Dec 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3039
Abstract
Torlon® is a thermally and plasticization-resistant polyamide imide characterized by low gas permeability at room temperature. In this work, we aimed at improving the polymer performance in the thermally-enhanced He/CO2 and H2/CO2 separations, by compounding Torlon® with [...] Read more.
Torlon® is a thermally and plasticization-resistant polyamide imide characterized by low gas permeability at room temperature. In this work, we aimed at improving the polymer performance in the thermally-enhanced He/CO2 and H2/CO2 separations, by compounding Torlon® with a highly permeable filler, ZIF-8, to fabricate Mixed Matrix Membranes (MMMs). The effect of filler loading, gas size, and temperature on the MMMs permeability, diffusivity, and selectivity was investigated. The He permeability increased by a factor of 3, while the He/CO2 selectivity decreased by a factor of 2, when adding 25 wt % of ZIF-8 at 65 °C to Torlon®; similar trends were observed for the case of H2. The MMMs permeability and size-selectivity were both enhanced by temperature. The behavior of MMMs is intermediate between the pure polymer and pure filler ones, and can be described with models for composites, indicating that such materials have a good polymer/filler adhesion and their performance could be tailored by acting on the formulation. The behavior observed is in line with previous investigations on MMMs based on glassy polymers and ZIF-8, in similar conditions, and indicates that ZIF-8 can be used as a polymer additive when the permeability is a controlling aspect, with a proper choice of loading and operative temperature. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Membranes for Gas Separation, Volume II)
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