Development of CO2 Selective Poly（Ethylene Oxide）-Based Membranes： From Laboratory to Pilot Plant Scale

Membrane gas separation is one of the most promising technologies for the separation of carbon dioxide （CO2） from various gas streams. One application of this technology is the treatment of flue gases from combustion processes for the purpose of carbon capture and storage. For this application, poly（ethylene oxide）-containing block copolymers such as Pebax or PolyActiveTM polymer are well suited. The thin-film composite membrane that is considered in this overview employs PolyActiveTM polymer as a selective layer material. The membrane shows excellent CO2 permeances of up to 4 m^3（STP）.（m^2·h·bar）^-1 （1 bar = 105 Pa） at a carbon dioxide/nitrogen （CO2/N2） selectivity exceeding 55 at ambient temperature. The membrane can be manufactured reproducibly on a pilot scale and mounted into fiat-sheet membrane modules of different designs. The operating performance of these modules can be accurately predicted by specifically developed simulation tools, which employ single-gas permeation data as the only experimental input. The performance of membranes and modules was investigated in different pilot plant studies, in which flue gas and biogas were used as the feed gas streams. The investigated processes showed a stable separation performance, indicating the applicability of PolyActiveTM polymer as a membrane material for industrialscale gas processing.

An oxygen reduction sensor based on a novel type of porous carbon composite membrane electrode

The development of a simple, efficient and sensitive sensor for dissolved oxygen is proposed using a novel type of porous carbon composite membrane/glassy carbon electrode based on the low-cost common filter paper by a simple method. The resulting device exhibited excellent electrocatalytic activities toward the oxygen reduction reaction. Scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electrochemical measurements demonstrated that the porous morphology and uniformly dispersed Fe;C nanoparticles of the PCCM play an important role in the oxygen reduction reaction. A linear response range from 2mmol/L up to 110 mmol/L and a detection limit of 1.4 mmol/L was obtained with this sensor. The repeatability of the proposed sensor,evaluated in terms of relative standard deviation, was 3.0%. The successful fabrication of PCCM/GC electrode may promote the development of new porous carbon oxygen reduction reaction material for the oxygen reduction sensor.

On-Chip Fabrication of Carbon Nanoparticle–Chitosan Composite Membrane

The on-chip fabrication of a carbon nanoparticle-chitosan composite membrane （i.e. a sorbent membrane or a mixed matrix membrane） using laminar flow-based interfacial deprotonation technology was presented in this paper. In addition, the effects of carbon nanoparticles and reactant flow rates on membrane formation were investigated. Finally, the permeability and adsorption capacities of the membrane were discussed. During fabrication, an acidic chitosan solution and a basic buffer solution that contained carbon nanoparticles were introduced into a microchannel. At the flow interface, a freestanding composite membrane with embedded carbon nanoparticles was formed due to the deprotonation of the chitosan molecules. The membrane growth gradually stopped with time from upstream to downstream and the thickness of the membrane increased rapidly and then slowly along the reactant flow direction. The formation of the membrane was divided into two stages. The average growth rate in the first stage was significantly larger than the average growth rate in the second stage. Carbon nanoparticles in the basic solution acted as nucleating agents and made the membrane formation much easier. As the flow rate of the chitosan solution increased, the averaged membrane thickness and the membrane hydraulic permeability initially increased and then decreased. Because of the addition of carbon nanoparticles, the formed membrane had adsorption abilities. The carbon nanoparticle-chitosan composite membrane that was fabricated in this study could be employed for simultaneous adsorption and dialysis in microdevices in the future.