Studies on as separation behaviour of polymer blending PI/PES hybrid mixed membrane: Effect of polymer concentration and zeolite loading

Ahmad Fauzi Ismail,Tutuk Djoko Kusworo

doi:10.12777/ijse.6.2.144-148

Abstract

This study is performed primarily to investigate the effect of polymer concentration of polyimide/polyethersulfone (PI/PES) blending on the gas separation performance of hybrid mixed matrix membrane. In this study, PI/ (PES)–zeolite 4A mixed matrix membranes were casted using dry/wet phase inversion technique. The efefct of PI/PES concentrations and zeolite loading on the dope solution were investigated for gas separation performance. The results from the Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) analysis confirmed that polymer concentration and zeolite loading was affected the morphology of membrane and gas separation performance. ‘Sieve-in-a-cage’ morphology observed the poor adhesion between polymer and zeolite at higher zeolite loading. The gas separation performance of the mixed matrix membranes were relatively higher compared to that of the neat polymeric membrane.

Highlights

The gas separation process by polymer membranes for natural gas processing, landfill gas recovery, air separation and hydrogen recovery have received much attention during the past several decades
The homogeneous polyimide and polyethersulfone were prepared according to the following procedure; the inorganic molecular sieve particles were dispersed into the solvent and stirred for 24 hours than followed by the addition of a desired amount of polyimide
In this paper confirmed that the PI/PES-zeolite 4A with 25 wt % zeolite loading together with the 25 wt% polymer concentration showed the best performance in terms of gas permeability and selectivity for CO2/CH4 gas

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The gas separation process by polymer membranes for natural gas processing, landfill gas recovery, air separation and hydrogen recovery have received much attention during the past several decades. Many studies have reported that the separation performance of mixed matrix membrane could be improved by integrating porous or nonporous inorganic filler such as zeolite, silica, carbon molecular sieve and activated carbon (Süer et al, 1994, Duval et al, 1994; Vankelecom et al, 1996 Zimmerman et al, 1997, Ismail et al 2008 and Kusworo et al 2008). Previous studies (Duval et al, 1994 and Ismail et al, 2008) have identified difficulties in obtaining good polymer–sieve contact with rigid, glassy polymers, such as polyimides Such glassy polymer mixed matrix membranes often demonstrated poor polymer–sieve adhesion, resulting in macroscopic voids and no selectivity enhancement. Kusworo et al (2008) concluded that the major problem of mixed matrix membranes using glassy polymers is adhesion between the polymer phase and the external surface of the particle It seems that the weak polymer-filler interaction makes the filler tend to form voids in the interface between the polymer and filler. The effects of preparation conditions such as temperature processes, polymer concentration and zeolite loading on the dope solution were investigated

Material selection

Post-treatment procedure

Module fabrication and gas permeation experiment

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

CONCLUSION