Solvent Effect (NMP and DCM) on Morphology and C02/CH4 Separation Performance of Asymmetric Polysulfone Membranes.

• Main Author: Ramli, Erry Fareena
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS 2010
• Subjects: TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/10808/1/2010%20Bachelor%20-%20Solvent%20Effect%20%28NMP%20And%20DCM%29%20On%20Morphology%20And%20Carbon%20Dioxide%20or%20Methane%20Separati.pdf; http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/10808/

Performance of a membrane is strongly influenced by the morphology ofthe membrane itself. The choice ofthe solvent used is very critical process. The objectives of this project is to study the effect of solvents which are DCM (dichloromethane) and NMP (N-methyl pyrrolidone) in membrane preparation on the morphologies ofmembrane and its relation to carbon dioxide and methane separation characteristic. Membrane will be fabricated using wet phase inversion technique. The polymer used is polysulfone (PSF) while the non-solvents are ethanol and water and were chosen on the basis of the solubility parameter map. The membranes will be characterized in term of the crosssectional morphology as well as the gas permeability. Characterization will be conducted by using SEM to analyse the morphology, FTIR to measure molecular interactions and UTM to measure the mechanical properties. Gas permeation unit will be used to evaluate the performance of membrane by applying different feed pressure. The performance ofmembranes will be evaluated by measuring C02 and CH4 permeances as well as CO2/CH4 ideal selectivity. Therefore, the understanding of mechanism of membrane formation is very crucial in order to produce desirable morphology that leads to enhancement of the membrane performance in pure gas separation process.