Influence of Particle Size on the Performance of Polysulfone Magnetic Membranes for O₂/N₂ Separation

Abstract

Magnetic mixed-matrix membranes (MMMs) are fabricated using polysulfone (PSf) and iron oxide (Fe) for O 2 /N 2 separation. The effects of Fe nanoparticle size and content on the performance of the membranes are investigated using a novel gas permeation unit in the presence of various magnetic fields. The results indicate that the O 2 permeation is improved by adding Fe nanoparticles into the PSf matrix regardless of the particle size. Furthermore, the selectivity of PSf and PSf-Fe membranes is considerably enhanced by applying a magnetic field during the permeation experiments. The O 2 permeability and O 2 /N 2 selectivity of PSf-Fe50 MMMs in the presence of a magnetic field are higher than those of neat PSf membranes.

Effects of an Alternating Magnetic Field towards Dispersion of α-Fe2O3/TiO2 Magnetic Filler in PPOdm Polymer for CO2/CH4 Gas Separation

“…The increase in fractional free volume resulted in a higher relative gas permeability in the unmagnetized MMM. Raveshiyan, et al [ 36 ] have carried out a study wherein iron oxide filler of 50 nm in diameter resulted in greater O 2 gas permeability relative to a similar filler of 20 nm in diameter in the case of O 2 /N 2 gas separation. Since the cluster size and dispersion were relatively finer and better in the magnetized MMM, there may be enhanced rigidity between the polymer–filler interface.…”

Applicability of Composite Magnetic Membranes in Separation Processes of Gaseous and Liquid Mixtures—A Review

“…Raveshiyan et al [9] observed the highest saturation magnetisation value (23 em•g −1 ) for a polysulfone (PSf) membrane modified with 10 wt% carbonyl iron powder. On the other hand, hard magnets have a high coercivity, which makes it difficult to magnetise and demagnetise them [14,17,18,30,33,34]. For this reason, placing the membranes loaded with hard magnets in an external magnetic field is unnecessary to obtain advantageous separation results.…”

Influence of alternating magnetic field's frequency and exposure time on distribution of α‐Fe2O3/TiO2 fillers for gas separation membranes: Quantitative approach

“…These studies present improvement in membrane morphology or gas separation performances. [6][7][8][9][10][11] However, the aforementioned method only fixates the usage of the magnetic field in a single direction to manipulate filler movement in the MMM. Multiple studies in cancer treatment, hyperthermia, and magnetic microbots, have been utilizing non-static magnetic fields such as rotational or alternating configurations for nano or micro-particle manipulation in various mediums (i.e., blood, water, and solvent).…”

“…In most studies, the static magnetic field in a single direction was applied after casting the membrane such as the vertical or horizontal direction. These studies present improvement in membrane morphology or gas separation performances 6–11 …”