Experimental Study of Hydrogen and Methane Permeation through Asymmetric PEI Membranes

Reducing the amount of off-gases to flare is an important issue addressed by petrochemical plants and refineries. Therefore, separation of hydrogen from methane is crucial monetary and environmental incentives for these industries. The current research is aimed preparation of asymmetric polyetherimide(PEI) membranes for this purpose. The different mechanism of gas intake in PEI resulted in a decrease in hydrogen permeance and selectivity and adverse behavior for methane with pressure enhancement. There was a decline in both gases permeance and unexpected enhancement in selectivity. The effect of bath temperature was demonstrated. An effective coating method was applied and the selectivity increased noticeably.