Thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membrane comprising Pebax®1657 and porous organic polymers (POP) for favored CO2 separation

Global warming is a public alarming issue caused by extreme CO2 emissions. Thus, CO2 removing using TFN membranes is an effective method to improve the CO2 separation performance. Thin film nocomposite membranes composed of Pebax 1657 embedded by porous organic polymers over the porous polysulfone support used to separate CO2 from CH4 and N2 gases. Porous organic polymers were synthesized via Friedel-Crafts one-step reaction. The obtained results from field emission scanning electron microscopy and thermal gravimetric analysis revealed that the TFN membranes declared a superior compatibility between Pebax and fillers. Permeation properties of membranes were tested over various feed pressure with the range of 2–10 bar. Pure gases permeability, CO2/CH4 and CO2/N2 selectivities improved via adding porous organic polymers into the Pebax. At porous organic polymers loading of 5wt% and feed pressure of 2 bar, the CO2, CH4 and N2 permeability raised to 310.6, 27.6 and 4.5 Barrer, respectively; which exhibited a significant improvement compared to thin film composite membrane. Moreover, the CO2/CH4 and CO2/N2 selectivities also increased to 11.25 and 70.04; respectively. Obtained results reveladed that the membranes performance was enhanced as the feed gas pressure increased. TFN containing 5wt% porous organic polymers implies a CO2 permeability of 348.4 Barrer at feed pressure of 10 bar.