Abstract Innovative asymmetric polyethersulfone (PES) membranes embedded with activated carbon (AC) were synthesized and then surface coated with thin PDMS layer. The membranes were then tested with advanced analytical techniques like FTIR, TGA, SEM and EDX analysis. Thereafter, the membranes were tested for gas permeation analysis with following five gases: carbon dioxide, hydrogen, nitrogen, helium and methane. The effects of embedding AC and feed gas pressure on gas permeation properties were also examined. The permeance of all the gases improved with the embedding of AC in the membrane without much decreasing their ideal selectivity while PDMS coating enhanced the ideal selectivity at the expense of decreasing permeance of all the gases. It was found that 30 wt. % AC embedded PDMS coated PES membrane, having thickness of 80 μm, exhibited the best gas permeation properties for following five pair of gases CO2/N2, CO2/CH4, H2/N2, He/N2 and He/CH4 at 25 °C and 20 bar. The best performing membrane was also tested for long term stability by exposing it with each gas for 96 h. It was also found that the performance of 30 wt % AC embedded membrane, surpassed the 2008 Robeson trade off line for all pair of gases except for CO2/CH4 for which it nearly touched this line. Finally, PDMS coated membranes were also tested with CO2/CH4 (50:50) mixture at high pressure and found that mixed gas permeation properties are considerably lesser than pure gas permeation properties due to possibility of competitive sorption phenomenon between the gases.

中文翻译：

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嵌入活性炭的高渗透性创新 PDMS 涂层聚醚砜膜，用于气体分离

摘要 合成了嵌入活性炭 (AC) 的创新不对称聚醚砜 (PES) 膜，然后在表面涂覆了 PDMS 薄层。然后使用先进的分析技术（如 FTIR、TGA、SEM 和 EDX 分析）对膜进行测试。此后，用以下五种气体测试膜的气体渗透分析：二氧化碳、氢气、氮气、氦气和甲烷。还研究了嵌入 AC 和原料气压力对气体渗透性能的影响。所有气体的渗透性随着 AC 嵌入膜中而得到改善，而不会显着降低其理想选择性，而 PDMS 涂层以降低所有气体渗透性为代价提高了理想选择性。发现 30 wt. % AC 嵌入的 PDMS 涂层 PES 膜，厚度为 80 μm，在 25 °C 和 20 bar 下，对以下五对气体 CO2/N2、CO2/CH4、H2/N2、He/N2 和 He/CH4 表现出最佳的气体渗透性能。性能最好的膜还通过将其暴露于每种气体 96 小时来测试其长期稳定性。还发现 30 重量% AC 嵌入膜的性能超过了 2008 年 Robeson 对所有气体的折衷线，除了几乎触及这条线的 CO2/CH4。最后，还在高压下用 CO2/CH4 (50:50) 混合物对涂有 PDMS 的膜进行了测试，发现由于气体之间可能存在竞争性吸附现象，因此混合气体渗透特性远低于纯气体渗透特性。性能最好的膜还通过将其暴露于每种气体 96 小时来测试其长期稳定性。还发现 30 重量% AC 嵌入膜的性能超过了 2008 年 Robeson 对所有气体的折衷线，除了几乎触及这条线的 CO2/CH4。最后，还在高压下用 CO2/CH4 (50:50) 混合物对涂有 PDMS 的膜进行了测试，发现由于气体之间可能存在竞争性吸附现象，因此混合气体渗透特性远低于纯气体渗透特性。性能最好的膜还通过将其暴露于每种气体 96 小时来测试其长期稳定性。还发现 30 重量% AC 嵌入膜的性能超过了 2008 年 Robeson 对所有气体的折衷线，除了几乎触及这条线的 CO2/CH4。最后，还在高压下用 CO2/CH4 (50:50) 混合物对涂有 PDMS 的膜进行了测试，发现由于气体之间可能存在竞争性吸附现象，因此混合气体渗透特性远低于纯气体渗透特性。