Preparation and Characterization of Polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) Membranes for Biogas Upgrading

Abstract

Asymmetric polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) membranes were fabricated by a non-solvent induced phase inversion method. Glycerin and silica nanoparticles were added into the polymer solution to investigate their effects on the material properties and gas separation performance of prepared membranes. The morphology and structure of PPSU membranes were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the surface roughness of the selective layer was analyzed by atomic force microscopy (AFM), and the surface free energy was calculated based on the contact angle measurements by using various solvents. The gas separation performance of PPSU membranes was estimated by measuring the permeability of CO2 and CH4. The addition of glycerin as a nonsolvent into the polymer solution changed the cross-section structure from finger-like structure into sponge-like structure due to the delayed liquid-liquid demixing process, which was confirmed by SEM analysis. The incorporation of silica nanoparticles into PPSU membranes slightly increased the hydrophilicity, which was confirmed by water contact angle results. PPSU membrane fabricated from the polymer solution containing 10 wt.% glycerin showed the best CO2/CH4 selectivity of 3.86 and the CO2 permeability of 1044.01 Barrer. Mixed matrix PPSU membrane containing 0.1 wt.% silica nanoparticles showed the CO2/CH4 selectivity of 3.16 and the CO2 permeability of 1202.77 Barrer.

A New Type of Composite Membrane PVA-NaY/PA-6 for Separation of Industrially Valuable Mixture Ethanol/Ethyl Tert-Butyl Ether by Pervaporation

“…In the presented research, the goniometric measurements were coupled with direct analysis of surface topography. By implementing the fringe projection phase-shifting method, it was possible to measure the apparent contact angle and contact angle corrected by the roughness [ 41 , 42 ]. The data are presented in Figure 10 A and Figure S2 .…”

Development of High Flux Nanocomposite Polyphenylsulfone/Oxidized Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes Membranes for Ultrafiltration Using the Systems with Critical Solution Temperatures

“…It is known that PPSU features higher chemical resistance to alkaline cleaning and organic solvents, hydrolysis and operation temperature compared to polysulfone (PSf) and polyethersulfone (PES) [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]. These advantages result in using PPSU membranes in ultrafiltration [ 7 , 8 , 9 ], nanofiltration [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ], forward osmosis [ 14 ], pervaporation [ 15 , 16 , 17 ], and gas separation [ 16 , 18 , 19 ], in membrane contactors [ 20 ] and proton exchange membrane fuel cells [ 21 ]. PPSU membranes were developed for water treatment [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ], water desalination [ 14 , 26 ], for dye removal [ 3 , 21 , 27 , 28 , 29 ], oil in water separation [ 30 , 31 , 32 ], water purification from natural organic matter (NOM) [ 33 ], removal of heavy metal ions [ 10 , 34 ], CO 2 /CH 4 gas separation [ 18 ], removal of free fatty acid from crude palm oil [ 35 ], removal of kinetic hydrate inhibitor from water [ 36 , 37 ], the separation of biobutanol from ABE mixtures [ 5 ] and cumene from water via pervaporation [ 17 ].…”

Polyphenylsulfone/zinc ion‐exchanged zeolite Y nanofiltration mixed matrix membrane for water desalination

“…8 In recent decades, polymers have been attracted more attention among other membrane materials such as ceramics and metals due to their advantages such as excellent mechanical properties and good processability. [9][10][11][12] However, they have some disadvantages such as swelling, poor chemical resistance, and undesirable thermal stability. 13,14 Many modification methods such as cross-linking, blending, and grafting have been used repeatedly to overcome drawbacks.…”