NSF Award
9901788
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project focuses on the development of novel nanostructured polymer/inorganic hybrid membranes with significantly improved permeability and organic vapor/permanent gas selectivity. Separation of hydrocarbon vapors from the permanent gases, hydrogen, nitrogen and methane, are growing applications of membrane gas separation processes throughout the U.S. Approximately 50 units have been installed in the last few years. Current systems use silicone rubber composite membranes, but membranes with higher selectivities would significantly improve the competitiveness of the process. The objective of this research will be to develop filled polyacetylene-based membranes. The Phase I project demonstrated that these membranes are significantly more selective than silicone rubber as well as confirming higher permeabilities. These membranes separate by a completely different mechanism than silicone rubber and could transform the competitiveness of vapor/gas separating membranes. The Phase II project will focus on (1) membrane optimization and scale-up, (2) elucidation of the unique gas transport properties of the nanostructured membranes, and (3) bench-scale experiments to demonstrate the practicality of using these membranes to separate industrially important gas mixtures.<br/> Applications of the membranes to be developed in this project include recovery of propylene, ethylene, vinyl chloride, and other monomers from nitrogen purge streams; separation of light hydrocarbons from hydrogen in refineries; and separation of C+3 hydrocarbons from methane during natural gas processing.
