Preparation and gas permeability properties of polyetherimide based nanocomposite membranes with fumed silica nanoparticles

Abstract

Polyetherimide membranes (PEIs) are made by solution-casting method. As a casting solvent, N-methyl pyrrolidone (NMP) was used for membrane solutions. For the purpose of investigating the effects of the membranes on gas separation efficiency, fumed silica nanoparticles and poly(ethylene glycol) (Mw=6000 g/mol) were added to the polymer solution. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) were used to analyze PEI membranes. To investigate the membrane morphologies, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to monitor the morphology of the membrane cross-sections. CO2 and CH4 gas permeability were measured to evaluate the performance of PEI-based membranes for gas separation. In SEM analysis, pure PEI membrane had dense, symmetrical structures. As a result of adding fumed silica nanoparticles to PEI membrane structure, finger-like voids were formed. An increase in fumed silica from 1% to 15% by weight led to a sponge-like dense asymmetric membrane structure observed by SEM. In the experiments, PEI-0-15 demonstrated the highest CO2/CH4 selectivity (α=36.483 and PCO2=0.6967 Barrer).

Keywords

• CO2/CH4 separation
• Fumed silica nanoparticules
• Polyether imide
• Membrane

Dumanlı silika nanopartikülleri ile polieterimid esaslı nanokompozit membranların hazırlanması ve gaz geçirgenlik özellikleri

Abstract

Polieterimid (PEI) membranlar solüsyon döküm yöntemi ile üretilmektedir. Döküm çözücüsü olarak N-metil pirolidon (NMP) kullanıldı. Hazırlanan membranların gaz ayırma performansı üzerindeki etkilerini araştırmak için polimer çözeltisine dumanlı silika nanopartikülü ve polietilen glikol (PEG; Mw=6000 g/mol) ilave edildi. PEI membranları, Fourier Transform Infrared Spektroskopisi (FTIR) ve Diferansiyel Tarama Kalorimetrisi (DSC) ile analiz edildi. Membran morfolojilerini incelemek amacıyla, membranların enine kesit alanlarının morfolojisi, Taramalı Elektron Mikroskobu (SEM) ile izlendi. PEI esaslı membranların gaz ayırma performansı, CO2 ve CH4'ün gaz geçirgenliği ölçülerek tahmin edildi. SEM analizine göre, saf PEI membranı yoğun simetrik bir yapıya sahipti. PEI membran yapısına dumanlı silika nanopartiküllerin eklenmesi, yapıda parmak benzeri boşluklara neden oldu. Dumanlı silika nanopartikül miktarı ağırlıkça %1'den %15'e çıkarıldığında süngerimsi yoğun asimetrik membran yapısının oluştuğu SEM ile izlendi. Sonuçlara göre PEI-0-15 en iyi CO2/CH4 seçiciliğini göstermiştir (α=36.483 ve PCO2=0.6967 Barrer).

Keywords

• CO2/CH4 ayırma
• Dumanlı silika nanopartikülleri
• Polieterimid
• Membran

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