NSF Award
9760767
*** 9760767 Pinnau This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project focuses on determining the feasibility of developing polyacetylene-based polymers with the selectivity and permeability of poly(l-trimethylsilyl- 1 -propyne (PTMSP) but with much improved solvent resistance. Several substituted polyacetylene polymers have extraordinarily high fractional free volumes (25% or more), and cast films of these polymers contain a connected nanoporous network which leads to remarkable gas permeation properties. Membranes made from these polymers have shown high permeabilities and very high selectivity in separating condensable-noncondensable gas mixtures. Unfortunately, the most selective and permeable of the polyacetylenes, PTMSP, is soluble in most hydrocarbon liquids. Consequently, the membrane must never contact any condensed vapor or entrained liquid droplets, a likely occurrence in industrial membrane systems. If stable membranes can be formed, a breakthrough in the separation of condensable C3-C5 hydrocarbons from nitrogen, hydrogen and methane would result. This represents a large, economically important group of separations in the petrochemical, refinery, and natural gas processing industries. The novel nanostructured polymer materials to be developed in this project can be used to form membranes for a wide range of separations such as natural gas treatment, hydrogen recovery in refineries, recovery of propylene and ethylene in polyolefin plants, and separation of Volatile Organic Compounds from air and nitrogen in petrochemical plant vent gases. ***
