Characterization of a Polymeric Membrane for the Separation of Hydrogen in a Mixture with CO2

Abstract

Abstract:Hydrogen is expected to play an important role as a clean, reliable and renewable energy source. A key challenge is the production of hydrogen in an economically and environmentally sustainable way on an industrial scale. One promising method of hydrogen production is via biological processes using agricultural resources, where the hydrogen is found to be mixed with other gases, such as carbon dioxide. Thus, to separate hydrogen from the mixture, it is challenging to implement and evaluate a simple, low cost, reliable and efficient separation process. So, the aim of this work was to develop a polymeric membrane for hydrogen separation. The developed membranes were made of polysulfone via phase inversion by a controlled evaporation method with 5 wt % and 10 wt % of polysulfone resulting in thicknesses of 132 and 239 micrometers, respectively. Membrane characterization was performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and ASTM D882 tensile test. Performance was characterized using a 2 3 factorial experiment using the time lag method, comparing the results with those from gas chromatography (GC). As a result, developed membranes exhibited dense microstructures, low values of RMS roughness, and glass transition temperatures of approximately 191.75 °C and 190.43 °C for the 5 wt % and 10 wt % membranes, respectively. Performance results for the given membranes showed a hydrogen selectivity of 8.20 for an evaluated gas mixture 54% hydrogen and 46% carbon dioxide. According to selectivity achieved, H 2 separation from carbon dioxide is feasible with possibilities of scalability. These results are important for consolidating hydrogen production from biological processes.

Comparative performance of commercial polymeric membranes in the recovery of industrial hydrogen waste gas streams

“…Generally, for DPMs, the temperature affects the energies of the gas molecules as well as the mobility of the polymeric chains of the membrane. Thus, a temperature increment in the membrane changes the flexibility of the polymeric chains, which improves the gas motion through the membrane [62,63].…”

“…Meanwhile the permeability tendency observed for CO2 showed a decreasing trend when the transmembrane pressure increased. The decrease is related to the interaction of CO2 molecules with the polymer matrix, and according to the dualsorption model, the Langmuir sorption sites become saturated with gas molecules [63,71].…”

A Short Review on Various Purification Techniques Suitable for Biohydrogen-Mixed Gases

“…Permeate flux is very sensitive to the feed temperature. Permeate flux increases as the feed temperature increases, due to the decrease of feed viscosity with an increase in the feed temperature [43][44].…”