Zeolite based films, membranes and membrane reactors: Progress and prospects

The integration of reaction and separation in catalytic membrane reactors has received increasing attention during the past 30 years. The combination promises to deliver more compact and less capital-intensive processes with substantial savings in energy consumption. With the advent of new inorganic materials and processing techniques, there has been renewed interest in exploiting the benefits of membranes in many industrial applications. Zeolite membranes, however, have only recently been considered for catalytic membrane reactor applications. Despite the significant recent interest in these types of membranes there are relatively few reports of the application of such membranes in high-temperature catalytic membrane reactor applications. This can be attributed to a number of limitations that still need to be addressed such as the relatively high price of membrane units, the difficulty of controlling the membrane thickness, permeance, high-temperature sealing, reproducibility and the dilemma of upscaling. A number of research efforts, with some degree of success have been directed to finding solutions to the remaining challenges. This review makes a critical assessment of what has been achieved in the past few years in terms of hurdles that still stand in the way of the successful implementation of zeolite membrane reactors in industry.     

Ionic liquid mediated nano-composite polymer gel electrolyte for rechargeable battery application

ABSTRACT

Nano-composite polymer gel electrolytes (NPGEs) based on polymer poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) PVdF-HFP, ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3- methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide BMIMTFSI, Li-salt along with the addition of SiO₂ nanoparticles have been synthesized and characterized by various techniques. Prepared NPGEs show high room temperature ionic conductivity (~10^?3 S/cm) and have a wide electrochemical window (ECW) (~3.3–3.5 V). The galvanostatic charge/discharge profile was studied by sandwiching best performing NPGEs between a LiFePO₄ cathode and lithium metal anode. The specific discharge capacity of the cell (Li/NPGE/LiFePO₄) room temperature at 0.1C rate is found to be 138 mAh/g.     

Tensile mechanical properties of sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) and BPO4/SPEEK membranes

A study to evaluate the tensile mechanical properties of sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) and BPO₄/SPEEK composite membranes has been carried out. It is aimed to give an assessment of these materials for applications in proton exchange membrane fuel cells. The stress–strain response of the membranes was measured as a function of the degree of sulfonation (DS) and the filler–matrix ratio. In addition, the effects of immersion in water at various temperatures were explored in situ by means of a homemade testing chamber fitted to the tensile analyzer. The results indicate that the DS has an important influence on the final mechanical behavior of the membranes. The introduction of the BPO₄ solid filler leads to deterioration in mechanical performance compared to unfilled SPEEK. A general picture of the microstructural features influencing the mechanical properties of SPEEK and BPO₄/SPEEK membranes is proposed. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 98: 2380–2393, 2005     

Cellulose acetate reverse osmosis membranes: Optimization of the composition

Membranes based on cellulose acetate for reverse osmosis can possibly be applied to the so‐called salinity process of energy generation and water desalinization. The requirements for membranes for these two different applications are a relatively high water flux and low salt permeability. In this article, we present the optimization of the composition of such membranes. We started by producing membranes with a patented casting solution with the following composition: 45.77 wt % dioxane, 17.61 wt % acetone, and 8.45 wt % acetic acid (solvents); 14.09 wt % methanol (nonsolvent); and 7.04 wt % cellulose diacetate and 7.04 wt % cellulose triacetate. The membranes produced with this solution were analyzed comparatively, with the membranes obtained by the introduction of modifications to the following parameters: the solvent mix, the nonsolvent mix, the proportion of cellulose diacetate and cellulose triacetate in the casting solution, and the addition of reinforcing cellulose fibers. The results led us to conclude that the best membrane formulation had the following composition: 45.77 wt % dioxane, 17.61 wt % acetone, and 8.45 wt % acetic acid (solvents); 4.22 wt % cellulose triacetate and 9.86 wt % cellulose diacetate (polymers); 14.09 wt % methanol (nonsolvent); and 0.5 wt % cellulose fibers (with respect to the total polymer content). © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 100: 4052–4058, 2006     

Color and COD retention by nanofiltration membranes

In the present study the application of the nanofiltration process was investigated mainly in the retention ofcolor and chemical oxygen demand (COD) present in textile industry wastewater. Nanofiltration experiments were carried out in a pilot unit, operating in crossflow. Three different types of spiral wound membranes, DK 1073, NF 45 and MPS 31 were used simultaneously in the same unit. The results of the tests showed that for color retention, the values were around 99% for the DK 1073 and NF 45 membranes and the 87% for COD retention for the DK 1073. The permeate flux for the different wastewaters varied from 30.5 to 70 L/h.m². Fouling was observed in all membranes due to the accumulation of molecular species close to the filtering surface. The process was efficient and promising for the reuse of wastewater from this type of industry.     

添加剂对PSF/ER合金膜结构和性能的影响

介绍了大分子添加荆聚乙烯吡咯烷酮(PVP)和小分子添加荆H2O时聚砜(PSF)／环氧树脂(ER)合金膜结构和渗透、分离及成膜性能的影响。结果表明，添加荆使PSF／ER合金膜的水通量上升，截留率下降；PVP改善了PSF／ER合金膜的成膜性能，当水质量分数大于0．8％时，PSF／ER合金膜的成膜性能下降。     

Controlled pore size, thickness and surface free energy of super-hydrophobic PVDF® and Hyflon®AD membranes

Super-hydrophobic membranes were manufactured by using two per-fluorinated polymers such as PVDF and Hyflon AD. The combination of controlled structure and supra-molecular chemistry made these membranes ideal interfaces to be used in membrane contactors.     

Pervaporation of 50 wt % ethanol–water mixtures with poly(1‐trimethylsilyl‐1‐propyne) membranes at high temperatures

Poly(1‐trimethylsilyl‐1‐propyne) (PTMSP) membranes have been used to separate ethanol–water mixtures by pervaporation. This polyacetylene is known to present high affinity toward ethanol, showing high selectivity and ethanol permeation flux. The performance of this polymer in the separation of alcohol–water solutions has been evaluated over long periods (572 h) at a high temperature (75°C) to examine the deterioration of the transport properties in the separation of 50 wt % ethanol–water solutions. Although PTMSP membranes present good characteristics for the separation of gases and liquid mixtures, their organic selectivity decrease with the operating time because of the relaxation processes of the polymeric chains, which affect the free volume of the polymer, the deterioration being more evident for concentrated solutions. The effects of the operation temperature on the characteristic parameters of pervaporation have also been studied to establish how this variable affects the performance of PTMSP membranes. The selectivity increases slightly with the operation temperature, but the effect of the temperature on the separation factor decreases as membranes are degraded with the operation time. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 103: 2843–2848, 2007     

Surface morphology and nodule formation mechanism of cellulose acetate membranes by atomic force microscopy

By the use of atomic force microscopy (AFM), formation mechanism of nodular structure in cellulose acetate membranes was systematically investigated. Elementary factors affecting the nodule formation were delineated on the basis of both kinetic and thermodynamic considerations. It was shown that (1) the exact nature of nodular structure is thermodynamic equilibrium glassy state; nodular structure will vanish in the rubbery state; (2) the thermodynamic factor affecting nodule formation is the membrane formation temperature; with the membrane formation temperature decreasing, more chain segments are able to form nodular structures; (3) nodule formation is dependent on the segment rearrangement; variation of the solvent environment is the major kinetic factor affecting the segment rearrangement and nodule formation. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 88: 1328–1335, 2003     

Microporous anisotropic phase inversion membranes from bisphenol A polycarbonate: Effect of additives to the polymer solution

Phase inversion is a very flexible technique to obtain membranes with a large sort of morphologies. Membrane properties can vary greatly depending on the kind of polymer system used. Bisphenol A polycarbonate (PC) could be used as a phase inversion membrane base polymer, and presents very good properties. Nevertheless, very little information on membrane preparation using PC and the phase inversion process can be found in the literature. In this work flat‐sheet microporous membranes were obtained by the phase inversion process using the immersion precipitation technique. A new polymer system was studied, consisting of polycarbonate, N‐methyl‐2‐pyrrolidone as solvent, water as the nonsolvent, and an additive. The influence of some parameters on membrane morphology, such as polymer solution composition, exposition time before immersion into the precipitation bath, and the kind of additive was investigated. Precipitation was followed using light transmission experiments and membrane morphology was observed through Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The viscosity and cloud points of all polymer solutions were also determined. The results were related to the studied synthesis parameters, using the basic principles of membrane formation by the phase inversion technique, looking forward to establishing criteria to control the morphology of flat‐sheet membranes using polycarbonate as the base polymer. The results showed that both additives were able to increase pore interconnectivity and even suppress macrovoid formation. The decrease in the miscibility region of the polymer system and increase in mass transfer resistance are found to be the determining factors during polymer solution precipitation. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 86: 3085–3096, 2002