Improvement of gas separation by preparation of nanocomposite poly ether block amide membranes incorporated by iron oxide (Fe2O3) nanoparticles

Improvement of gas separation by preparation of nanocomposite poly ether block amide membranes incorporated by iron oxide (Fe2O3) nanoparticles

In this study, ploy ether block amide (PEBA) as continuous phase and Fe2O3 nanoparticle (NP) as dispersed phase are employed to fabricate mixed matrix membrane (MMMs) by 0.5 and 1 wt.% loading with enhanced performance for CO2 separation from N2. The momentous purpose of this study was to obtain the permeability of CO2 and N2 within MMMs considering the effect of nanoparticles loading and upstream pressure. The fabricated membranes are characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses and atomic-force microscopy (AFM). It was found that CO2 permeability, CO2/N2 selectivity of membranes increased with feed pressure. FTIR and XRD analyses represented that the Fe2O3 loading disrupts hydrogen bonding of PEBA matrix. AFM as morphological analyze, showed that incorporation of nanoparticle leads to surface roughness while the nanoparticles were dispersed homogeneously in polymer matrix.

poly (ether block amide), gas separation, mixed matrix membrane, Iron Nano oxide