Polymeric Gas Separation Membranes For
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POLYMERIC GAS SEPARATION MEMBRANES FOR CARBON DIOXIDE REMOVAL XIA JIAN ZHONG (B. S., Peking University, P. R. China) A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE NOV 2012 To my parents and my wife for their understanding and support without any hesitation Especially to my father for his selfless love until he left this world ACKNOWLEDEGMENTS I wish to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to all the contributors during my years in the National University of Singapore and University of Texas at Austin. First of all, I am especially grateful to my supervisors, Professor Neal Chung Tai-Shung and Professor Donald R. Paul, who have not only provided guidance during my research activities but have also given generously of their time to offer encouragement, advice and support. Their pursuance for perfection in research and publication set a great example for my professional career. I also appreciate the assistance from my TAC members – Prof. Hong Liang and Dr. Pramoda Kumai – for their valuable comments and discussions. I would like to acknowledge the NGS scholarship offered by NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering. They provide me lots of chance to attend international conferences, summer schools and even long period of research exchange. I also wish to express my recognition to NUS, A*Star and the Singapore National Research Foundation (NRF) for the financial support that enables this work to be successfully completed. It has been pleasant to work with people both in Prof. Chung’s group in National University of Singapore and people in Prof. Paul’s group in University of Texas at Austin. I have enjoyed the friendships with all members of these two groups, especially Dr. Liu Songlin, Dr. Norman Horn, Dr. Xiao Youchang, Dr. Li Yi, Dr. Rajkiran Tiwari, Ms. Wang Huan, Ms. Zhang Sui, Mr. Chen Hangzheng, Mr. Yin Hang and many others for many good times, discussion and sharing of technical i experience. Special thanks to Ms. Chuan Irene Christina for all her kindest cooperation and help on my “2+2” exchange programme. I am also indebted to Liu Di, Zhang Miao, Liu Jingran, Tang Zhao, Chen Xi, Yang Shengyuan for making my graduate life joyful. Finally, I must express my deepest gratefulness to my family for their endless support, especially to my dearest fiancee Yaqian for sharing my life in Singapore. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDEGMENTS ...................................................................................... i TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................iii SUMMARY ........................................................................................................... ix LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................. xii LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................. xiv CHAPTER 1 Introduction........................................................................................ 1 1.1 Membrane Technology for Gas Separations ...................................... 2 1.2 History of Gas Separation Membranes ............................................... 3 1.3 Applications Based on Gas Separation Membranes ........................... 4 1.3.1 Hydrogen recovery ............................................................................. 5 1.3.2 Nitrogen Enrichment .......................................................................... 7 1.3.3 Recovery of Organic Vapor ................................................................ 7 1.3.4 Carbon Dioxide Capture ..................................................................... 8 1.4 Materials for Gas Separation Membranes ........................................ 11 References .......................................................................................................... 17 CHAPTER 2 Background and Approaches ........................................................... 22 iii 2.1 Permeability, Permeance and Selectivity ......................................... 22 2.2 Solubility .......................................................................................... 24 2.3 Fractional Free volume ..................................................................... 26 2.4 Gas Transport in Rubbery Polymers ................................................ 27 2.5 Gas Transport in Glassy Polymers ................................................... 28 2.6 Effect of Temperature ....................................................................... 29 References .......................................................................................................... 30 CHAPTER 3 Materials and Experimental Methods .............................................. 33 3.1 Materials ........................................................................................... 33 3.2 Preparation of Dense Membranes ..................................................... 35 3.2.1 Preparation of Glassy Thick Membranes ......................................... 35 3.2.2 Preparation of Organic-Inorganic Membranes (OIMs) .................... 36 3.3 Preparation of Polymeric Thin Films ............................................... 39 3.4 Characterization of Physicochemical Properties .............................. 41 3.4.1 Measurement of Gel Content ............................................................ 41 3.4.2 Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR) ............................ 42 3.4.3 Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) ...................................... 42 3.4.4 Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) ................................................ 42 iv 3.4.5 Wide Angle X-ray Diffraction (WAXD) .......................................... 43 3.4.6 X-ray Photoelectron Spectrometer (XPS) ........................................ 43 3.4.7 Elemental Analysis ........................................................................... 43 3.4.8 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) .............................................. 44 3.4.9 Simulation Based on Molecular Dynamic ........................................ 44 3.4.10 Variable Angle Spectroscopic Ellipsometer ..................................... 46 3.5 Characterization of Gas Transport Properties .................................. 47 3.5.1 Pure Gas Permeation Tests ............................................................... 47 3.5.2 Mixed Gas Permeation Tests ............................................................ 48 3.5.3 Pure Gas Sorption Tests ................................................................... 48 References .......................................................................................................... 50 CHAPTER 4 Liquid-like Polyethylene Glycol Supported in the Organic-inorganic Matrix for CO2 Removal .................................................................. 53 Abstract .............................................................................................................. 54 4.1 Introduction ...................................................................................... 55 4.2 Results and Discussion ..................................................................... 60 4.2.1 Basic Physicochemical Properties .................................................... 60 4.2.2 XRD Characterization ...................................................................... 67 v 4.2.3 The Gas Permeation Performance .................................................... 68 4.2.5 Effect of Testing Temperature .......................................................... 77 4.2.5 Effect of PEGs’ Molecular Weights ................................................. 81 Summary ............................................................................................................ 85 References .......................................................................................................... 87 CHAPTER 5 The Effect of End Groups and Grafting on the CO2 Separation Performance of Polyethylene Glycol Based Membranes ................. 96 Abstract .............................................................................................................. 97 5.1 Introduction ...................................................................................... 98 5.2 Results and Discussion ..................................................................... 99 5.2.1 Basic Physicochemical Properties .................................................... 99 5.2.2 Gas Transport Properties of OIMs with Physical Blending ........... 101 5.2.3 Thermal Properties of GPA1100 Series ......................................... 105 5.2.4 Temperature Dependence of Gas Permeation Properties ............... 107 5.2.5 Thermal Grafting of PEG-azide and Characterizations .................. 112 5.2.6 Gas Permeation Properties After Thermal Grafting ....................... 116 Summary .......................................................................................................... 119 References ........................................................................................................ 121 vi CHAPTER 6 Aging and Carbon Dioxide Plasticization of Thin Extem® XH1015 Polyetherimide Films ...................................................................... 125 Abstract ...........................................................................................................