Microporous polyimide VOC-rejective membrane for the separation of nitrogen/VOC mixture

Chi Zhang, Xue Gao, Jinchao Qin, Qingkai Guo, Haoli Zhou, Wanqin Jin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

43 Scopus citations

Abstract

The treatment of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) in waste streams is very important. Herein, we propose to use a network microporous polyimide (PI) membrane for the molecular sieving of nitrogen over VOC molecules to control their emission. 2,6,14-triaminotriptycene (Trip) was reacted with aromatic dianhydride monomers, such as 3,3′,4,4′-benzophenone tetracarboxylic dianhydride (BTDA), to synthesize ultramicroporous polyimides, which readily form composite membranes via solution coating. The properties of the PIs were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Brunner-Emmet-Teller (BET) analysis, etc., which validated the formation of a network structure and ultramicroporosity in these polyimides. Therefore, the outstanding separation performance for the separation of nitrogen over VOCs, such as cyclohexane, by molecular sieving was obtained by using these membranes; a rejection higher than 99 % was realized with a permeability of approximately 2000∼2600 Barrer under a temperature of 25 °C and feed concentration of 30,000 ± 2000 ppm. Finally, the stability of the Trip-BTDA-PI membrane over time was studied.

Original languageEnglish
Article number123817
JournalJournal of Hazardous Materials
Volume402
DOIs
StatePublished - 15 Jan 2021

Keywords

  • Microporous polyimide
  • Molecular sieving
  • Network structure
  • VOC-rejective membrane
  • Volatile organic compounds

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