Effect of temperature on intrinsic permeation properties of 6FDA-Durene/1,3-phenylenediamine (mPDA) copolyimide and fabrication of its hollow fiber membranes for CO2/CH4 separation

We have determined the effect of temperature on intrinsic permeation properties of 6FDA-Durene/1,3-phenylenediamine (mPDA) 50/50 copolyimide dense film and fabricated high performance hollow fiber membranes of the copolyimide for CO2/CH4 separation. The hollow fiber membranes were wet-spun from a tertiary solution containing 6FDA-Durene/mPDA (PI), N-methyl-pyrrolidone (NMP) and tetrahydrofuran (THF) with a weight ratio of 20:50:30 at different shear rates within the spinneret. We observed the following facts: (1) the CO2/CH4 selectivity of the copolyimide dense film decreased significantly with an increase in temperature; (2) the performance of as-spun fibers was obviously influenced by the shear rate during spinning. For uncoated fibers, permeances of CH4 and CO2 decreased with increasing shear rate, while selectivity of CO2/CH4 sharply increased with shear rate until the shear rate reached 2169 s−1 and then the selectivity leveled off; (3) After silicone rubber coating, permeances of CH4 and CO2 decreased, the selectivity of CO2/CH4 was recovered to the inherent selectivity of its dense film. Both the permeances and selectivity with increasing shear rate followed their same trends as that before the coating; (4) there was an optimal shear rate at which a defect-free fiber with a selectivity of CO2/CH4 at 42.9 and permeance of CO2 at 53.3 GPU could be obtained after the coating; and (5) the pressure durability of the resultant hollow fiber membranes could reach 1000 psia at room temperature.