Presentation at the 8 DSL Conference in Turkey, 2012

1. RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION DESIGN © 2012
www.PosterPresentations.com
Natural gas (NG) processing and membrane technology are two very
important fields that are of great significance due to increasing demand for
energy as well as gas mixtures separation. While NG is projected to be the
number one primary source of energy by 2050, membrane separation is a
commercially successful competitor to other separation techniques for energy
efficient gas purification processes (Qiu et al., 2011). Most of the NG produced
in the world is coproduced with acid gases such as CO2 which need to be
removed to increase the caloric value of NG. A comprehensive review of
research efforts in CO2 separation from natural gas is required to capture
details of the current scientific and technological progresses on the
development of new membrane materials with tailored gas transport
properties, and the improvement of properties of the existing ones.
This paper presents the progresses that have been achieved in the area of
material science and engineering to eliminate the limitations that dominate
the large scale application of membrane materials at the present time.
Research efforts in material development in the context of the break through
and challenges that exist for major industrial applications of membrane in CO2
removal from NG are reported.
Abstract
Challenges in Membrane Materials Development for Gas Separation
CO2-induced Plasticization and Conditioning
Figure 4. Permeability of CO2 as a function of Feed Pressure in Glassy PSF
and Rubbery PEO (Data used were obtained from Scholes et al., (2010);
and Lin and Freeman (2004)).
Membrane with Higher Plasticization Pressure
Figure 5. Separation Performance of Decarboxylation-induced Thermal
Crosslinking of Hollow Fiber 6FDA-DAM:DABA (3:2) Membrane for Pure CO2 Gas
(Data were obtained from Qiu et al., 2011)
References
Figure 6. (a) Separation Performance of Decarboxylation-induced Thermal
Crosslinking of Hollow Fiber 6FDA-DAM:DABA (3:2) Membrane for 50%CO2 /50%
CH4 Gas using data from Qiu et al. (2011) (b)Improved Plasticization Resistance
via Crosslinking of 6FDA-DAM-DABA (2:1) using data from Staudt-Bickel &
Koros (1999); and Kratochvil & Koros (2008)
The three important identified challenges are:
1.Better gas selectivity without sacrificing gas permeability
2.Problem of CO2-induced plasticization and conditioning
3.Maintaining the long-term gas separation performance by overcoming the problems
of physical aging
Askari, M., Xiao, Y., Li, P., & Chung, T.-S. (2012 ). Natural gas purification and olefin/paraffin separation using cross-
linkable 6FDA-Durene/DABA co-polyimides grafted with α,β and γ cyclodextrin. Journal of Membrane Science , 390–
391 , 141– 151.
Bernardo, P., Drioli, E., & Golemme, G. (2009). Membrane Gas Separation: A Review/State of the Art. Ind. Eng.
Chem. Res. , 48, 4638–4663.
Han, S. H., Lee, J. E., Lee, K.-J., Park, H. B., & Lee, Y. M. (2010). Highly gas permeable and microporous
polybenzimidazole membrane by thermal rearrangement. Journal of Membrane Science , 357 , 143–151.
Kratochvil, A. M., & Koros, W. J. (2008). Decarboxylation-Induced Cross-Linking of a Polyimide for Enhanced CO2
Plasticization Resystance. Macromolecules , 41, 7920- 7927.
Lin, H., & Freeman, B. (2004 ). Gas solubility, diffusivity and permeability in poly(ethylene oxide). Journal of
Membrane Science , 239 , 105–117.
Park, H. B., Han, S. H., Jung, C. H., Lee, Y. M., & Hill, A. J. (2010). Thermally rearranged (TR) polymer membranes for
CO2 separation. Journal of Membrane Science , 359 , 11–24.
Qiu, W., Chen, C.-C., Xu, L., Cui, L., Paul, D. R., & Koros, W. (2011). Sub-Tg Cross-Linking of a Polyimide Membrane
for Enhanced CO2 Plasticization Resistance for Natural Gas Separation. Macromolecules , 44, 6046–6056.
Scholes, C. A., Chen, G. Q., Stevens, G., & Kentish, S. E. (2010). Plasticization of ultra-thin polysulfone membranes
by carbon dioxide. Journal of Membrane Science , 346 , 208–214.
Staudt-Bickel, C., & Koros, W. J. (1999). Improvement of CO2/CH4 separation characteristics of polyimides by
chemical crosslinking. Journal of Membrane Science , 155, 145–154.
Wind, J. D., Paul, D. R., & Koros, W. J. (2004 ). Natural gas permeation in polyimide membranes. Journal of
Membrane Science , 228 , 227–236.
Xiao, Y., Low, B. T., Hosseini, S. S., Chung, T. S., & Paul, D. R. (2009 ). The strategies of molecular architecture and
modification of polyimide-based membranes for CO2 removal from natural gas - A review. Progress in Polymer
Science , 34 , 561–580
Figure 3. Thermally Rearranged Polymer Membranes that Surpassed the
2008 Upper Bound [(a) Han et al., (2010) (b) Park et al. (2010)]
Figure 2. Robeson’s 1991 and 2008 Upper Bound Curves Representing a
General Trade-Off for Membrane Gas Separation Performance
[(a) Wind et al., (2004); (b) Xiao et al., (2009)]
Figure 1. Permeability and Permselectivity of gases at feed pressure of 3.5 bar;
membrane thickness of 20 μm (Bernardo et al., 2009)
Better Balance of Selectivity and Permeability
School of Chemical Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia,
14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia
Jimoh K. Adewole and Abdul Latif Ahmad
Membrane Separation of CO2 from Natural Gas:
A State-of-the-Art Review on Material Development
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Cellulose
Accetae
Cytop HyflonAD
60
HyflonAD
80
Teflon AF
1600
Permeability(barrer)
Permeability of Commercial Membranes
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Cellulose
Accetae
Cytop HyflonAD
60
HyflonAD
80
Teflon AF
1600
Permselectivity
Permselectivity of Commercial Membranes
(a)
120oC, 24hr 180oC, 24hr 300oC, 20hr 330oC, 20hr 350oC, 1hr 370oC, 1hr
150 140
190
290
330
450
14
45 48 48 48 48
Separation Performance of Decarboxylation-induced Thermal
Crosslinking of Hollow Fiber 6FDA-DAM:DABA (3:2) Membrane for
Pure CO2 Gas (Qiu et al., 2011)
Permeability (Barrer) Plasticization Pressure (Bar)
(b)
(a) (b)
Department of Chemical Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals,
Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia DSL333