Gas separation using sol–gel derived microporous zirconia membranes with high hydrothermal stability

A microporous zirconia membrane with hydrogen permeance about 5 × 10-8mol·m-2·s-1·Pa-1, H2/CO2 permselectivity of ca. 14, and excellent hydrothermal stability under steam pressure of 100 k Pa was fabricated via polymeric sol–gel process. The effect of calcination temperature on single gas permeance of sol–gel derived zirconia membranes was investigated. Zirconia membranes calcined at 350 °C and 400 °C showed similar single gas permeance, with permselectivities of hydrogen towards other gases, such as oxygen, nitrogen, methane, and sulfur hexa fluoride, around Knudsen values. A much lower CO2permeance（3.7 × 10-9mol·m-2·s-1·Pa-1）was observed due to the interaction between CO2 molecules and pore wall of membrane. Higher calcination temperature, 500 °C, led to the formation of mesoporous structure and, hence, the membrane lost its molecular sieving property towards hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The stability of zirconia membrane in the presence of hot steam was also investigated. Exposed to 100 k Pa steam for 400 h, the membrane performance kept unchanged in comparison with freshly prepared one, with hydrogen and carbon dioxide permeances of 4.7 × 10-8and ~ 3 × 10-9mol·m-2·s-1·Pa-1, respectively. Both H2 and CO2permeances of the zirconia membrane decreased with exposure time to 100 k Pa steam. With a total exposure time of 1250 h, the membrane presented hydrogen permeance of 2.4 × 10-8mol·m-2·s-1·Pa-1and H2/CO2 permselectivity of 28, indicating that the membrane retains its microporous structure.

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.