Fabrication of Pebax/4A Zeolite Nanocomposite Membrane to Enhance CO2 Selectivity Compared to Pure O2, N2, and CH4 Gases

Abstract

The separation of carbon dioxide is essential for the environment. Using membranes to separate this gas is economical, but the weakness in permeability and mechanical strength has prevented their commercialization. Robeson proved that permeability and selectivity have the opposite relationship and provided an upper limit for pairs of gases. Worth to be mentioned that any membrane placed above this limit could be commercialized. Scientists proposed mixed matrix membranes to overcome this problem. These membranes contain two phases, polymer, and inorganic. This research focuused on membrane technology and aimed to prepare a membrane that has a good performance for CO2 separation and at the same time its cost is economical, so by adding a reasonable price zeolite available in the market named 4A to the Pebax1657 polymer and changing the operating conditions of the process, permeability and Selectivity was measured. Pebax polymer and 4A zeolite were selected as respectively the polymer and mineral phases for membrane fabrication. The fabricated membranes were evaluated by XRD, FT-IR, FE-SEM, BET, EDAX, TGA/DSC, and mechanical strength tests. Finally, the selectivity of CO2 compared to N2, O2, and CH4 improved by 53, 67, and 75%, respectively, and obtained a good position on the Robeson diagram.