Direct dual layer spinning of aminosilica/Torlon® hollow fiber sorbents with a lumen layer for CO2 separation by rapid temperature swing adsorption

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe direct dual layer spinning of Torlon®/silica hollow fibers with a neat Torlon® lumen layer is reported here for the first time. The dual layer fibers containing a porous Torlon®/silica main structure and a dense, pure Torlon® polymer bore‐side coating provide a simplified, scalable platform from which to construct hollow fiber amine sorbents for postcombustion CO2 capture. After fiber spinning, an amine infusion process is applied to incorporate PEI into the silica pores. After combining dilute Neoprene treatment followed by poly(aramid)/PDMS treatment, a helium permeance of the fiber sorbents of 2 GPU with a He/N2 selectivity of 7.4 is achieved. Ten of the optimized amine‐containing hollow fibers are incorporated into a 22‐inch long, 1/2 inch OD shell‐and‐tube module and the module is then exposed on the shell side to simulated flue gas with an inert tracer (14 mol % CO2, 72 mol % N2, 14 mol % He [at 100% R.H.]) at 1 atm and 35°C in a RTSA system for preliminary CO2 sorption experiments. The fibers are found to have a breakthrough and equilibrium CO2 capacity of 0.8 and 1.2 mmol/g‐ dry fiber sorbent, respectively. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 41845.