Pure and mixed gas permeation through a composite polydimethylsiloxane membrane

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AbstractA thin polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) layer on polyethersulfone (PES) support was synthesized and pure and mixed gas permeation of C3H8, CH4, and H2 through it was measured. At first, a macroporous PES support was prepared by using the phase inversion method and characterized. Then, a thin layer of PDMS was coated over the support. Finally, permeation behavior of the synthesized composite membrane was investigated by pure and mixed gas experiments under various operating conditions. The synthesized PDMS/PES membrane showed much better gas permeation performance than others reported in the literature. Pure gas experiments showed that increase in the transmembrane pressure increases the permeability coefficient of heavier gases, C3H8, while decreases those of lighter ones, CH4 and H2. Exactly opposite behavior was observed in mixed gas experiments due to the competitive sorption and diffusion in the plasticized polymer matrix. Temperature was realized to induce similar effects on the permeability of pure and mixed gases. As expected, in rubbery membranes such as PDMS, permeability values of more condensable gases decrease with increasing temperature, whereas those of permanent gases increase. In the case of mixed gas experiments, increase in the C3H8 concentration in feed led to increase in the permeabilities of all the components due to the C3H8‐induced swelling of the PDMS film. High C3H8/H2 and C3H8/CH4 ideal selectivities of 22.1 and 14.7, respectively, at a transmembrane pressure of 7 atm as well as reasonable C3H8 separation factor (SF) values for all mixed gas experiments (in the range of 8.1–16.8) demonstrated the ability of the synthesized PDMS/PES membrane for the separation of organic vapors from permanent gases. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.