Abstract
In this work, the behavior of new GO-based mixed matrix membranes was tested in view of their use as CO2-selective membrane in post combustion carbon capture applications. In particular, the new materials were obtained by mixing of Pebax® 2533 copolymer with different types of graphene oxide (GO). Pebax® 2533 has indeed lower selectivity, but higher permeability than Pebax® 1657, which is more commonly used for membranes, and it could therefore benefit from the addition of GO, which is endowed with very high selectivity of CO2 with respect to nitrogen. The mixed matrix membranes were obtained by adding different amounts of GO, from 0.02 to 1% by weight, to the commercial block copolymers. Porous graphene oxide (PGO) and GO functionalized with polyetheramine (PEAGO) were also considered in composites produced with similar procedure, with a loading of 0.02%wt. The obtained films were then characterized by using SEM, DSC, XPS analysis and permeability experiments. In particular, permeation tests with pure CO2 and N2 at 35°C and 1 bar of upstream pressure were conducted for the different materials to evaluate their separation performance. It has been discovered that adding these GO-based nanofillers to Pebax® 2533 matrix does not improve the ideal selectivity of the material, but it allows to increase CO2 permeability when a low filler content, not higher than 0.02 wt%, is considered. Among the different types of GO, then, porous GO seems the most promising as it shows CO2 permeability in the order of 400 barrer (with an increase of about 10% with respect to the unloaded block copolymer), obtained without reducing the CO2/N2 selectivity of the materials, which remained in the order of 25.
Highlights
In the last decades, the worldwide rise in energy demand has increased the consumption of fossil fuels, leading to remarkable and regular emissions of combustion products—most of all, carbon dioxide—which, in turn, have led to global warming issues
Nanocomposite membranes of Pebax® 2533 have been prepared through its mixing with graphene oxide (GO)-based materials to investigate the ability of this material to serve as a matrix for MMMs
The behavior of graphene oxide loaded into the polymer at different concentrations was investigated, revealing that 0.02 wt% was the best composition in terms of improvements in properties
Summary
The worldwide rise in energy demand has increased the consumption of fossil fuels, leading to remarkable and regular emissions of combustion products—most of all, carbon dioxide—which, in turn, have led to global warming issues. Pebax® is the trade name of a series of block copolymers composed by polyamide and polyether blocks, produced with various types of each moiety and in different ratios [30,31,32,33] They are widely used as a membrane matrix in carbon capture because some of them possess both good CO2 permeability and CO2 /N2 selectivity, properties that can be tuned with chemical modification or by the use of fillers, as reported in the very complete summary from Ho et al [15]. Should to have high permeability coupled with a CO2 /N2 selectivity of at least 100 Following this idea, in the present work, a set of Pebax 2533–GO mixed matrix membranes have been prepared and tested to study their potential application for CO2 separation in post combustion been prepared and tested to study their potential application for CO2 separation in post combustion carbon capture. Compatibility, were used [55]
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