Preparation and characterization of supported ionic liquid membrane based on [EMIM][TFSI]/non-solvent/NMP/PSF for gas separation

• Main Author: Tang, Georgina YanJie.
• Other Authors: Lua Aik Chong
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Chemical engineering::Polymers and polymer manufacture
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/53627
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

As the world becomes more concerned about environmental issues, industries have been continuously researching on safe and environmentally friendly alternatives. Ionic liquids have been widely reported as ‘green’ solvents due to their unique properties such as negligible vapour pressure. Hence, the application of ionic liquid for gas separation has been widely studied in the recent years. The purpose of this project was to investigate the effect of coagulation bath and the influence of ionic liquid on the structure and performance of polysulfone membrane. A polymer solution was obtained by dissolving 25.7 g of polysulfone crystals in 100 ml of NMP. Thin film polysulfone membranes were prepared via phase inversion after being spin-coated on a carbon substrate. Ionic liquid, [Emim][Tf2N], was applied after the pure polymeric membranes were dried in the oven. Four membrane samples had been produced using different coagulant media. They were ethylene glycol, deionised water, ethanol and isopropyl alcohol. The permeability of the membranes was examined using a single gas feed permeation rig, where helium and nitrogen gas were used. Morphology of the membranes was examined using a scanning electron microscope. The amount of ionic liquid in the membrane was examined using fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results were then correlated to the gas separation performance of nitrogen and helium gases.