Preparation of polyetherimide membrane from non-toxic solvents for the separation of hydrogen from methane

Yousef Alqaheem,Sharifah Alkandari,Nusrat Tanoli,Abdulwahab Alhendi,Andrés Quesada-Peréz,Nourah Alnajdi,Abdulaziz Alomair

doi:10.1186/s13065-018-0449-7

Yousef Alqaheem, Sharifah Alkandari + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s13065-018-0449-7

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Abstract

Polymeric membranes are usually prepared from solvents like n-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) because of the strong dissolving power and high boiling point. Yet, the solvent is costly, toxic and has environmental issues. In this work, nontoxic solvents such as methyl l-lactate, ethyl lactate, propylene carbonate, tributyl o-acetylcitrate, tributyl citrate, triethyl phosphate, and γ-butyrolactone (GBL) were introduced during membrane preparation. It was found that all the solvents were unable to dissolve polyetherimide except GBL. The membranes made by GBL and NMP were evaluated for gas separation, and they have almost similar hydrogen-to-methane selectivity, but, hydrogen permeance was better in NMP membranes.

Highlights

Polymeric membranes were introduced in the oil/gas industry in the 1980s for the separation of hydrogen from natural gas [1]
Some authors reported a remarkable increase in the membrane permeability with different solvents, and this was related to the change in membrane morphology such as pore size and membrane thickness [6]
NMP membrane resulted in a selectivity of 3.0; but hydrogen permeance again was very high compared to what GBL membrane achieved

Summary

Introduction

Polymeric membranes were introduced in the oil/gas industry in the 1980s for the separation of hydrogen from natural gas [1]. Solvents like n-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) is commonly used for membrane preparation because of the strong dissolving power and high boiling point of 202 °C [2, 11]. Polyetherimide (PEI) membranes were prepared using different solvents such as NMP, ML, EL, PC, ATBC, TBC, TEP, and GBL.

Results

Conclusion