Preparation of Carbon Membranes for Gas Separation

Abstract

During the twentieth century, carbon membranes emerged as another effective tool in the gas separation industry. Carbon membrane is an inorganic membrane, which can be fabricated by using a thermosetting polymer. Carbon membranes have excellent thermal and chemical stability compared to polymeric membranes commercially available in the industry. In addition, carbon membranes show high productivity and separation power. Carbon molecular sieve membranes are normally prepared through a pyrolysis process that converts the polymeric membranes into carbon membranes. There are a few important parameters, such as the pyrolysis temperature, oxidation condition, type of purge gas, duration of heating, heating rate, and purge gas flow rate, which must be considered during the pyrolysis process. The properties of the resulting membranes can be modified when they are stored in different environments. Therefore, the effects of membrane aging on the gas transport and separation properties must also be studied. This chapter highlights the preparation of a good-quality carbon membrane for gas separation and also assesses the effect of aging on carbon membrane performance for gas separation.