High-performance SSZ-13 membranes prepared using ball-milled nanosized seeds for carbon dioxide and nitrogen separations from methane

SSZ-13 membranes with high separation performances were prepared using ball-milled nanosized seeds by once hydrothermal synthesis. Separation performances of SSZ-13 membranes in CO_2/CH_4 and N_2/CH_4 mixtures were enhanced after synthesis modification. Single-gas permeances of CO_2, N_2 and CH_4 and ideal selectivities were recorded through SSZ-13 membranes. The effects of temperature, pressure, feed flow rate and humidity on separation performance of the membranes were discussed. Three membranes prepared after synthesis modifications had an average CO_2 permeance of 1.16 × 10~(-6) mol·(m~2· s·Pa)~(-1)(equal to 3554 GPU) with an average CO_2/CH_4 selectivity of 213 in a 50 vol%/50 vol% CO_2/CH_4 mixture. It suggests that membrane synthesis has a good reproducible. The membrane also displayed a N_2 permeance of 1.07 × 10~(-7) mol·(m~2·s·Pa)~(-1)(equal to 320 GPU) with a N_2/CH_4 selectivity of 13 for a 50 vol%/50 vol% N_2/CH_4 mixture. SSZ-13 membrane displayed stable and good separation performance in the wet CO_2/CH_4 mixture for a long test period over 100 h at 348 K. The current SSZ-13 membranes show great potentials for the simultaneous removals of CO_2 and N_2 in natural gas purification as a facile process suitable for industrial application.     

Hydrophobic modification of SAPO-34 membranes for improvement of stability under wet condition

SAPO-34 zeolite membranes show high efficiency for CO₂/CH₄ separation but suffer from the reduction of separation performance when exposed to humid atmosphere. In this work, n-dodecyltrimethoxysilane (DTMS) was used to modify the hollow fibers supported SAPO-34 membranes to increase the external surface hydrophobicity and thus sustain their performance under moisture environment. The modified membranes were fully characterized. Their separation performance was extensively investigated in both dry and wet gaseous systems and compared with the un-modified ones. The un-modified SAPO-34 membrane exhibited a high separation selectivity of 160 and CO₂ permeance of 1.18×10^-6 mol·m^-2·s^-1·Pa^-1 for separation of dry CO₂/CH₄ at 298 K. However, its separation selectivity declined to 0.9 and the CO₂ permeance was only about 1.7×10^-8 mol·m^-2·s^-1·Pa^-1 for wet CO₂/CH₄ at same temperature. High temperature (e.g. 353 K) could reduce the effect of moisture to improve SAPO-34 separation selectivity, but further increasing temperature (e.g. 373 K) led to decrease in CO₂/CH₄ separation selectivity. A significant decrease of selectivity was observed at higher pressure drop. The modified SAPO-34 membrane showed decreased CO₂ permeance but increased separation selectivity for dry CO₂/CH₄ gas mixture, and super performance for wet CO₂/CH₄ gas mixture due to the improved hydrophobicity of membrane surface. A separation selectivity of 65 and CO₂ permeance of 4.73×10^-8 mol·m^-2·s^-1·Pa^-1 for wet CO₂/CH₄ mixture can be observed at 353 K with a pressure drop of 0.4 MPa. Furthermore, the modified membrane exhibited stable separation performance during the 120-hour test for wet CO₂/CH₄ mixture at 353 K. The hydrophobic modification paves a way for SAPO-34 membranes in real applications.     

GO-TSC/聚酰亚胺混合基质膜的制备及气体分离性能研究

使用氨基硫脲（TSC）对氧化石墨烯（GO）进行改性,制备GO-TSC层状复合材料。随后,将该复合材料加入到Matrimid^®5218（PI）基质中,制备用于二氧化碳分离的混合基质膜（MMMs）。通过TGA、SEM及气体分离性能测试考察了GO-TSC对膜热稳定性、结构和气体分离性能等的影响。SEM结果显示GO-TSC可均匀分散在聚合物基质上并与基质紧密结合;TGA结果显示混合基质膜在250 ℃以上仍保持稳定。与纯PI膜相比,MMMs显著增强了二氧化碳的渗透性。GO-TSC中所含的氨基与二氧化碳具有良好的亲和力,增加的碱性位点可以有效地转运二氧化碳。GO-TSC的层状结构增加了气体的传输路径,不利于大动态直径气体（甲烷、氮气）的通过,从而提高了分离性能。GO-TSC负载量为0.75%（质量分数）时混合基质膜的分离性能最佳。相比较纯PI膜,混合基质膜的二氧化碳渗透系数和二氧化碳/甲烷、二氧化碳/氮气分离系数分别提高了42.16%、95.79%和83.72%。     

Boosting selective C2H2/CH4, C2H4/CH4 and CO2/CH4 adsorption performance via 1,2,3-triazole functionalized triazine-based porous organic polymers

Nitrogen-rich porous organic polymers have shown great potentials in gas adsorption/separation, photocatalysis, electrochemistry, sensing and so on. Herein, 1,2,3-triazole functionalized triazine-based porous organic polymers (TT-POPs) have been synthesized by the copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (Cu-AAC) polymerization reactions of 1,3,5-tris(4-azidophenyl)-triazine with 1,4-diacetylene benzene and 1,3,5-triacetylenebenzene, respectively. The characterizations of N₂ adsorption at 77 K show TT-POPs possess permanent porosity with BET surface areas of 666 m²·g^-1 (TT-POP-1) and 406 m²·g^-1 (TT-POP-2). The adsorption capacities of TT-POPs for CO₂, CH₄, C₂H₂ and C₂H₄, as well as the selective separation abilities of CO₂/N₂, CO₂/CH₄, C₂H₂/CH₄ and C₂H₄/CH₄ were evaluated. The gas selective separation ratio of TT-POPs was calculated by the ideal adsorbed solution theory (IAST) method, wherein the selective separation ratios of C₂H₂/CH₄ and C₂H₄/CH₄ of TT-POP-2 was 48.4 and 13.6 (298 K, 0.1 MPa), which is comparable to other adsorbents (5.6-120.6 for C₂H₂/CH₄, 10-26 for C₂H₄/CH₄). This work shows that the 1,2,3-triazole functionalized triazine-based porous organic polymer has a good application prospect in natural gas purification.     

界面聚合法制备用于脱氮提纯CH4的N2优先渗透ZIF-90/聚酰胺混合基质膜

作为一种高效的分离方法,膜法分离非常规天然气具有较理想的应用前景。相较CH₄优先渗透膜,N₂优先渗透膜优势在于分离N₂/CH₄混合气后CH₄处于高压侧,利于后续处理。以均苯三甲酰氯为油相单体,间苯二胺为水相单体,采用界面聚合法在聚砜基膜上制备致密超薄聚酰胺分离层,并通过向其中引入孔径可允许N₂分子通过而不允许CH₄分子通过的纳米颗粒ZIF-90,在膜内形成固定的N₂传递通道,成功制备了用于脱氮提纯CH₄的N₂优先渗透混合基质膜。膜渗透选择性能测试结果显示当混合基质膜中纳米颗粒掺杂量为0.30 g·L^-1时,2 bar（1 bar=0.1 MPa）进料压力下,N₂渗透速率达1.16×10^-9 mol·m^-2·s^-1·Pa^-1,N₂/CH₄分离因子达16.6,分离因子比未掺杂ZIF-90的聚酰胺膜提高46.5%,具有一定的处理非常规天然气脱氮提纯甲烷的应用潜力。     

界面聚合法制备用于脱氮提纯CH4的N2优先渗透ZIF-90/聚酰胺混合基质膜

作为一种高效的分离方法,膜法分离非常规天然气具有较理想的应用前景。相较CH₄优先渗透膜,N₂优先渗透膜优势在于分离N₂/CH₄混合气后CH₄处于高压侧,利于后续处理。以均苯三甲酰氯为油相单体,间苯二胺为水相单体,采用界面聚合法在聚砜基膜上制备致密超薄聚酰胺分离层,并通过向其中引入孔径可允许N₂分子通过而不允许CH₄分子通过的纳米颗粒ZIF-90,在膜内形成固定的N₂传递通道,成功制备了用于脱氮提纯CH₄的N₂优先渗透混合基质膜。膜渗透选择性能测试结果显示当混合基质膜中纳米颗粒掺杂量为0.30 g·L^-1时,2 bar（1 bar=0.1 MPa）进料压力下,N₂渗透速率达1.16×10^-9 mol·m^-2·s^-1·Pa^-1,N₂/CH₄分离因子达16.6,分离因子比未掺杂ZIF-90的聚酰胺膜提高46.5%,具有一定的处理非常规天然气脱氮提纯甲烷的应用潜力。     

功能化Zr-MOF强化混合基质膜CO2分离

混合基质膜（MMMs）在气体分离领域具有良好的应用前景,金属有机框架（MOFs）由于具有高孔隙率和有机连接基团,常被用作填料制备MMMs。但由于MOFs与聚合物的界面相容性问题,MMMs的气体分离性能提升受到限制。本文合成了功能化的Zr-MOF（UiO-66-AC）,并利用其与聚醚共聚酰胺（Pebax）共同制备了混合基质膜。填料中引入的羰基和羧基等基团提供了MOFs与聚合物基质之间较强的界面相互作用。与纯Pebax膜相比,UiO-66-AC/Pebax MMMs的气体渗透性能得到了显著提高。当填料质量分数为6%时,膜的CO₂渗透系数为102.4 Barrer,CO₂/N₂和CO₂/CH₄选择性分别为90.6和26.0,CO₂/N₂分离性能突破了Robeson上限(2008),表明该混合基质膜在CO₂的分离应用上具有潜力。     

Covalent organic frameworks-incorporated thin film composite membranes prepared by interfacial polymerization for efficient CO2 separation

Thin film composite (TFC) membranes with nanofillers additives for CO₂ separation show promising applications in energy and environment-related fields. However, the poor compatibility between nanofillers and polymers in TFC membranes is the main problem. In this work, covalent organic frameworks (COFs, TpPa-1) with rich —NH— groups were incorporated into polyamide (PA) segment via in situ interfacial polymerization to prepare defect-free TFC membranes for CO₂/N₂ separation. The formed covalent bonds between TpPa-1 and PA strengthen the interaction between nanofillers and polymers, thereby enhancing compatibility. Besides, the incorporated COFs disturb the rigid structure of the PA layer, and provide fast CO₂ transfer channels. The incorporated COFs also increase the content of effective carriers, which enhances the CO₂ facilitated transport. Consequently, in CO₂/N₂ mixed gas separation test, the optimal TFC (TpPa_0.025-PIP-TMC/mPSf) membrane exhibits high CO₂ permeance of 854 GPU and high CO₂/N₂ selectivity of 148 at 0.15 MPa, CO₂ permeance of 456 GPU (gas permeation unit) and CO₂/N₂ selectivity of 92 at 0.5 MPa. In addition, the TpPa_0.025-PIP-TMC/mPSf membrane also achieves high permselectivty in CO₂/CH₄ mixed gas separation test. Finally, the optimal TFC membrane showes good stability in the simulated flue gas test, revealing the application potential for CO₂ capture from flue gas.     

Synthesis and permeation properties of ion-exchanged ETS-4 tubular membranes

Zeolite membranes, which were composed of ETS-4 with Na cations, were prepared on porous -alumina tubes by hydrothermal synthesis. The membranes, which were formed under optimized conditions, sharply rejected molecules with sizes larger than 0.4 nm. For mixtures of N₂–CO₂, N₂–O₂, N₂–Ar and N₂–CH₄ systems, N₂ permeated faster than the coexisting gas. The N₂/O₂ separation factor for an equimolar mixture was in the range of 2.3–3.5, and the N₂ permeance was in the range of (0.55–2.8)×10⁻⁸ mol m⁻² s⁻¹ Pa⁻¹ at permeation temperatures of 283–333 K. Moisture had some effect on the permeation properties for N₂–O₂ mixtures. The separation factor for the N₂/CH₄ system was larger than that of the N₂/O₂ system. When the membrane was ion exchanged with either Li⁺ or Sr²⁺, the separation factors for N₂/O₂ and N₂/CH₄ systems increased, while the permeances decreased.     

CH_4/N_2 separation on methane molecules grade diameter channel molecular sieves with a CHA-type structure

Samples of methane molecules grade diameter channel CHA-type molecular sieves(Chabazite-K, SAPO-34 and SSZ-13) were investigated using the adsorption separation of CH_4/N_2 mixtures. The isotherms recorded for CH_4 and N_2 follow a typical type-Ι behavior, which were fitted well with the Sips model(R~20.999) and the selectivity was calculated using IAST theory. The results reveal that Chabazite-K has the highest selectivity(SCH_4/N= 5.5).2 SSZ-13 has the largest capacity, which can adsorb up to a maximum of 30.957 cm~3·g~(-1)(STP) of CH_4, due to it having the largest pore volume and surface area, but the lowest selectivity(S_(CH_4/N_2)= 2.5). From the breakthrough test, we can conclude that SSZ-13 may be a suitable candidate for the recovery of CH_4 from low concentration methane(CH_420%) based on its larger pore volume and higher CH_4 capacity. Chabazite-K is more suited to the separation of high concentration methane(CH_450%) due to its higher selectivity.     

机械化学法合成小尺寸MOF填料助力高性能CO2分离

利用金属-有机骨架UTSA-280具有特定刚性尺寸的一维孔道可以筛分CO₂、CH₄、N₂的特性,采用机械化学研磨法减小其颗粒尺寸,将UTSA-280掺入聚砜（PSf）中制备MOF基混合基质膜,用于天然气提纯和烟道气CO₂捕获。结果表明,在PSf中掺入UTSA-280不仅可以增加聚合物的CO₂渗透通量而且提高了气体分离选择性。当UTSA-280掺杂量为30%（质量）时,混合基质膜对CO₂/CH₄、CO₂/N₂的分离因子分别为56.39和53.17,CO₂的渗透通量为18.61 Barrer,相对于PSf纯膜,选择性分别提高了47.3%和63.5%,CO₂渗透通量提高了128.9%,打破了“trade-off”效应。该工作通过引进具有分子筛分效应的MOF填料,能够增加气体通量的同时提高混合基质膜对含CO₂气体的分离性能,对天然气的提纯以及烟道气的CO₂的捕获有重要意义。     

Regulatable pervaporation performance of Zn-MOFs/polydimethylsiloxane mixed matrix pervaporation membranes

Pervaporation (PV) is an emerging separation technique for liquid mixture. Mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) often demonstrate trade-off relationship between separation factor and flux. In this study, by changing the organic linkers (2-methyl imidazolate, imidazole-2-carboxaldehyde, 2-ethyl imidazolate), ZIF-8, ZIF-90 and MAF-6 were prepared and filled in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membranes for dealcoholization of 5% (mass) n-butanol solution, and the membranes properties and pervaporation performances were adjusted. Compared with the pure PDMS membrane, the addition of ZIF-8 resulted in a 9% increase in flux (1136 g·m^-2·h^-1) and a 22.5% increase in separation factor (28.3), displaying anti-trade-off effect. For the MAF-6/PDMS MMMs (2.0% mass loading), the pervaporation separation index (PSI) and separation factor were 32347 g·m^-2·h^-1 and 58.6 respectively (increased by 34% and 154% in contrast with that of the pure PDMS membrane), and the corresponding permeation flux was 552 g·m^-2·h^-1, presenting great potential in the removal butanol from water. It was deduced that the large aperture size combined with moderate hydrophobicity of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) favor the concurrent increase in permeability and selectivity.     

Helium extraction from natural gas using DD3R zeolite membranes

Helium (He) is commercially produced from natural gas by low-temperature condensation. The process is energy extensive because of the extremely low He concentration (<0.3%) and the operation at cryogenic temperature. Herein we demonstrated DD3R zeolite membrane was efficient to extract He from natural gas at atmosphere temperature. The membrane performance was evaluated in terms of temperature, pressure and molar fractions. The overall membrane performance was dominated by the diffusivity selectivity. The single He permeance and ideal He/CH₄ selectivity were 5.8×10^-9 mol·m^-2·s^-1·Pa^-1 and 79 under a feed pressure of 1.3 MPa. Even though He concentration was as low as 0.22%, the He permeance and He/CH₄ mixture selectivity were 3.0×10^-9 mol·m^-2·s^-1·Pa^-1 and 44 at 0.7 MPa. During the long-term operation (～130 h) the membrane performance was stable even the feed mixture containing 3.6% ethane as contaminations. The results approved the feasibility of DD3R zeolite membranes for He extraction from natural gas.     

Water-selective hybrid membranes with improved interfacial compatibility from mussel-inspired dopamine-modified alginate and covalent organic frameworks

Hybrid membranes combining the merits of both polymer matrices and fillers have drawn extensive attention. The rational design of polymer–filler interface in hybrid membranes is vitally important for reducing the occurrence of void defects. Herein, imine-type covalent organic frameworks(COFs) were selected as the fillers due to their totally organic nature and multi-functionalities. Mussel-inspired dopamine-modified sodium alginate(Alg DA) was synthesized as the polymer matrix. The dopamine modification significantly improves the Alg DA–COF compatibility,which enhances the COF content up to 50 wt% in the hybrid membranes. The improved interfacial compatibility enhances the membrane separation selectivity. Accordingly, when utilized for dehydration of ethanol/water mixed solution(water concentration of 10 wt%), the hybrid membrane reveals high water concentration of ～98.7 wt% in permeate, and stable permeation flux larger than 1500 g·m~(-2)·h~(-1). This work might afford useful insights for fabricating hybrid membranes with high separation selectivity by optimizing the polymer–filler interface.     

H2, CO, N2, O2和CH4在碳膜中的扩散

Diffusion of pure H2, CO, N2,O2 and CH4 gases through nanoporous carbon membrane is investigated by carrying out non-equilibrium molecular dynamics （NEMD） simulations. The flux, transport diffusivity and activation energy for the pure gases diffusing through carbon membranes with various pore widths were investigated. The simulation results reveal that transport diffusivity increases with temperature and pore width, and its values have a magnitude of 10^-7 m^2·s^-1 for pore widths of about 0.80 to 1.21 nm at 273 to 300 K. The activation energies for the gases diffusion through the membrane with various pore widths are about 1-5 kJ·mol^-1, The results of transport diffusivities are comparable with that of Rao and Sircar （J. Membr. Sci., 1996）, indicating the NEMD simulation method is a good tool for predicting the transport diffusivities for gases in porous materials, which is always difficult to be accurately measured by experiments.     

Exploring the methods on improving CH4 delivery performance to surpass the Advanced Research Project Ageney-Energy target

CH_4 storage associated with adsorbed natural gas(ANG) technology is an issue attracting great concern.Following the Advanced Research Project Agency-Energy(ARPA-E) targeted deliverable capacity of 315 cm~3·cm~(-3)(STP), hundreds of thousands of materials have been experimentally or theoretically evaluated,while the best results still show a 35% gap from the target. Moreover, recent theoretical research reveals that the target is beyond the possibility that real materials can be designed. To get rid of the awkward situation, we make attempts on investigating the CH_4 delivery performance under other operation conditions. Methods of raising the discharge temperature(to infinite high) or elevating the storage pressure(to 25 MPa) have been proved to show limited effectiveness. In this work, it is found that the ARPA-E target can be achieved by using a decreasing storage temperature strategy. By taking 280 Co RE(computation-ready, experimental) COFs(covalent organic frameworks) as ANG materials, when reduce the storage temperature to 190.6 K, the highest deliverable capacity can reach 392 cm~3·cm~(-3)(STP), and16.1% Co RE COFs can surpass the target. The target is also achievable when storage at 220 K. Structure performance relationships study shows strong correlation between deliverable capacity and void fraction. Hence, 120 hypothetical COFs are generated to ascertain the optimum void fraction. In addition,the performance of 2 D-COFs can be greatly enhanced by increasing the interlayer spacings, e.g. CH_4 deliverable capacity(storage at 190.6 K) of ATFG-COF can be improved from 239 to 411 cm~3·cm~(-3)(STP) when interlayer spacing is enlarged to 1.65 nm.     

The effect of ZIF-90 particle in Pebax/Psf composite membrane on the transport properties of CO2, CH4 and N2 gases by Molecular Dynamics Simulation method

Nowadays, mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) have considered by many researchers to overcome the problems of polymeric membranes. In addition, molecular dynamics (MD) and Monte Carlo (MC) simulation Methods are suitable tools for studying transport properties and morphology in MMMs. For this purpose, in this study using material studio 2017 (MS) software, the transport properties of CO₂, CH₄ and N₂ in Pebax, Psf neat Pebax/Psf composite and Pebax/Psf composite filled with ZIF-90 particles have been investigated. By adding Psf to Pebax matrix, the selectivity of CO₂/CH₄ and CO₂/N₂ gases has significantly increased. In addition, adding ZIF-90 particles to the Pebax/Psf composite increased the permeability of CO₂, CH₄ and N₂ compared to neat and composite membranes. The morphological properties of the membranes, such as the fractional free volume (FFV), radial distribution function (RDF), glass transition temperature (T_G), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and equilibrium density have calculated and acceptable results have obtained.     

Effect of pore size on CH4/N2 separation using activated carbon

In this paper, a model of activated carbon was established by molecular simulation and the separation performance of N_2 and CH_4 on activated carbon was studied. In order to evaluate the adsorption selectivity and diffusion selectivity of N_2 and CH_4, Grand Canonical Monte Carlo and molecular dynamic methods were used to obtain equilibrium adsorption isotherms and mean square displacements of N_2 and CH_4 on activated carbon with different pore sizes. Research results showed that the difference in adsorption isosteric heat of N_2 and CH_4 at the pore size of 0.46 nm is the largest, which is 5.759 and 7.03 kcal·mol~(-1)(1 cal=4.184 J), respectively. Activated carbon with pore size of 0.46 nm has the best N_2 and CH_4 adsorption selectivity, while its diffusion selectivity is not obvious.     

Cu-BTC/乙基纤维素混合基质膜的快速制备及气体分离性能

金属有机骨架Cu-BTC广泛用于气体分离混合基质膜的制备。为了避免混合基质膜传统制备方法周期较长的缺点,本实验将Cu-BTC前体分别与乙基纤维素（EC）溶液混合后进行反应,实现了Cu-BTC在EC溶液中的快速合成。并利用这一特性制备了Cu-BTC/EC膜。利用扫描电子显微镜、X射线晶体衍射、红外吸收光谱对产品表征,确定了Cu-BTC在膜中的分布情况。实验发现EC浓度的提高对Cu-BTC前体的反应有明显的促进作用。通过Cu-BTC/EC膜的热性能和力学性能测试,发现Cu-BTC和EC的界面强度随Cu-BTC含量的提高先增加后降低。在Cu-BTC质量分数为26%时,膜的CO₂渗透系数为112.3barrer,相对于纯EC膜（66.3barrer）提高了69%,且CO₂/CH₄和CO₂/N₂选择性几乎没有下降。最后考察了测试压力对气体渗透系数的影响,结果表明Cu-BTC/EC膜相对于纯EC膜具有更好的耐CO₂溶胀能力。     

Graphene oxide membranes supported on the ceramic hollow fibre for efficient H2 recovery

The special channels and intrinsic defects within GO laminates make it a very potential candidate for gas separation in recent years. Herein, the gas separation performance of GO membranes prepared on the surface of ceramicα-Al_2O_3 hollow fibre was investigated systematically. The microstructures of ceramic hollow fibre supported GO membranes were optimized by adjusting operation conditions. And, the GO membrane fabricated at 30 min exhibited great promising H_2 recovery ability from H_2/CO_2 mixture. At room temperature, the H_2 permeance was over 1.00 × 10~(-7)mol·m~(-2)·s~(-1)·Pa~(-1)for both single gas and binary mixture. The corresponding ideal selectivity and mixture separation factor reached around 15 and 10, respectively. In addition, humility, operation temperature, H_2 concentration in the feed and the reproducibility were also studied in this work.