Effect of zeolite concentration on development of polyethersulfone mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) for o2/n2 separation

• Main Author: Muhammad Hidayat, Musa
• Format: Undergraduates Project Papers
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/3095/1/CD5581_MUHAMMAD_HIDAYAT_MUSA.pdf; http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/3095/

The membrane gas separation is an effective economical process to separate gas such as oxygen (O2) and nitrogen (N) gases. The limited selectivity and permeability trade off of plain polymeric membrane have force researchers in finding alternatives to improve polymeric membrane performance. With the insertion of inorganic filler in polymer solution such as zeolite , mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) was produced. In this study, the effect of concentration zeolite loading was studied in order to identify optimum composition for the best separation performance. The polymer solution contains Polyethersulfone (PES) as the polymer, N-Methyl Pyrrolidone (NMP) as the solvent and distilled water (H22O) as the non-solvent. The zeolite concentration valued between 5 to 20 wt % was applied. To increase the compatibility of zeolite with the polymer, 3-Aminopropyl-Trimethoxysilane (APTMOS) was used to treat the zeolite prior to dope formulation to modify the zeolite surface. The dry/wet phase inversion method was used to produce the asymmetric flat sheet membrane. The prepared membrane was coated with silicone and N-Hexane to decrease the surface defect of the membrane. In order to determine the membrane performance, the membranes were tested using O2 and N as the test gases using permeability test rig. The surface and cross section image of the prepared membrane was identified by using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The results show that the MMMs with 15% concentration of zeolite possessed the highest selectivity of 3.3 while the lowest selectivity is at 5% zeolite concentration that is 1.3 and the optimum pressure was found at 3 bar. Therefore it proves that by insertion of zeolite at 15wt% provides an interconnected channel that will only allow the flow of O22 and preventing N. As a conclusion by increasing concentration of zeolite loading, the high selectivity and high permeability of MMMs will be increased.