Temperature- and pressure-dependent transient analysis of single component permeation through nanoporous carbon membranes Original Research Article

Using a transient analysis of permeation, i.e. the time lag method, as a function of temperature and pressure, it is shown that each of the parameters needed to fully evaluate adsorption and diffusion can be obtained in situ. These experiments were conducted on a supported tubular nanoporous carbon membrane, 5.1 cm2 in area and prepared by ultrasonic deposition of poly(furfuryl alcohol) onto a porous stainless steel support. The permeation experiments were conducted at temperatures ranging from 25 to 225°C and over a range of pressures from 100 to 700 kPa. Under these conditions the fluxes ranged from 10−7 to 10−4 mol/m2/s with permeances ranging between 10−12 and 10−9 mol/m2/s/Pa. Heats of adsorption were found to be 2.5, 2.21, 3.05 and 2.52 kcal/mol for N2, O2, Ar and CO2, respectively, and generally lower than those reported for granular nanoporous carbons. The apparent activation barriers to diffusion were also found to be low at 2.06, 5.87, 4.12, 5.89 and 2.19 kcal/mol for He, N2, O2, Ar and CO2. These results point to the presence of two parallel pathways for transport — the major one through the nanopores but a second through a few defect pores. Assumed to be on the order of 50 nm in diameter, these defects were calculated to represent a total area fraction of 3.43×10−9.