Gas Separation Performance Of Polymeric Membranes For Flue Gas Capture And Helium Separation

Coal combustion power plants produce tons of by-product flue gas emissions. Flue gas mainly comprises a mixture of carbon dioxide and nitrogen. CO2 is a greenhouse gas and its emissions contribute to global warming in the atmosphere. It is important to develop technologies to separate and capture CO2 before it is emitted into the atmosphere. Membranes are robust materials that provide selective permeation of one gas from a mixture under a partial pressure gradient. The separated gas streams can be utilized for various purposes or sequestered. In this paper, gas separation performance of dense films of polyethersulfone, polysulfone, novel pure TorlonAI-10 polyamide-imide membrane and four novel mixed matrix membranes of Torlon with Zif-8 nanoparticles is presented. In pure Torlon membranes, the observed pure gas CO2/N2 selectivity is 40 and He/N2 selectivity is 97 at 60psia feed pressure at 25C. In Torlon-Zif8(10%) mixed matrix membranes, He/N2 selectivity is 192 at 100psia. In mixed gas experiments, we obtained 99.8% pure CO2 in permeate from Torlon-Zif8(20%) mixed matrix membrane dense films. Material characterization studies include DMTA, DSC, TGA, FTIR, SEM, XRD and UTM. The developed membranes are suitable for flue gas separation. The membranes can also lower cost and improve energy efficiency in helium extraction process.