Exploring the performance of a composite membrane with a nanometer-thin selective layer of chitosan-gallic acid for the separation of carbon dioxide

Khazaei, Roghayeh; عابدینی, رضا

Exploring the performance of a composite membrane with a nanometer-thin selective layer of chitosan-gallic acid for the separation of carbon dioxide

Document Type : Original Research

Authors

R. Khazaei

ر. عابدینی

Research Laboratory of Increased Oil Recovery and Gas Processing, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Babol, Iran

Abstract

Research subject: Permeability and high selectivity are two important factors of gas separation membranes. To achieve such parameters, gas separation membranes can be modified and improved in terms of material type, material ratio, structure, and etc. For this purpose, in this research, the performance of chitosan-gallic acid/polysulfone thin film composite membranes (TFC) has been improved in CO₂ gas separation.

Research approach: To prepare chitosan-gallic acid/polysulfone TFC membranes, a nanometer-scale thin layer of chitosan-gallic acid was formed on the polysulfone support layer (PSF). Following this, chitosan-gallic acid composite thin layer membranes were synthesized with different mass ratios (1:1, 2:1, and 1:2). Various analytical techniques, including Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), and X-ray Photoelectric Spectroscopy )XPS(, were used to examine the structure of the TFC membranes, alongside CO₂/CH₄ and CO₂/N₂ separation tests.

Main results: Examining the chemical structure of the synthesized membranes showed the successful formation of chitosan-gallic acid chains on the PSF surface. The microscopic images of the synthesized membranes showed that a dense thin layer of chitosan-gallic acid was uniformly formed on the PSF support layer. The highest CO₂ separation was achieved with a chitosan-gallic acid mass ratio of 1:2. Increasing the gallic acid content in the selective layer of the thin film composite membrane resulted in improved CO₂ permeability, increasing from 294.4 GPU and 347.2 GPU for the 1:1 and 2:1 membrane, respectively, to 411.1 GPU for the 1:2 membrane. Additionally, the permeability of CH₄ and N₂ gases through the thin film composite (1:2) membrane was measured at 24.6 GPU and 19.2 GPU, respectively. The gas selectivity calculations revealed an increase in selectivity for CO₂/CH₄ and CO₂/N₂, rising from 13.84 and 17.165 in the 1:1 membrane and 9.684 and 12.969 in the 2:1 membrane to 16.711 and 21.411 in the 1:2 membranes. The results showed that the performance of the chitosan-gallic acid thin layer membrane, which was used for the first time in CO₂ separation, was acceptable.

Keywords

Composite

Thin layer membrane

Chitosan-galic acid

Polysulfone

CO2 separation

Subjects

membrane

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