Investigation of cellulose acetate/gamma-cyclodextrin MOF based mixed matrix membranes for CO2/CH4 gas separation

This work is aimed to investigate the permeation characteristic of CA/gamma-CD-metal organic framework (MOF) based mixed matrix membranes (MMM) for CO2/CH4 separation. The defect-free CA/gamma-CD-MOF MMMs with dense, isotropic morphology were fabricated using solution casting method. The fabricated membranes were characterized through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), ultimate tensile testing, and contact angle measurements. The characterization techniques revealed the uniform dispersion of filler in cellulose acetate matrix and absence of the agglomerates or cracks in the synthesized membrane samples. Moreover, the CO2/CH4 separation performance of fabricated membrane was evaluated using single and mixed gas permeation tests. A general trend of decreasing permeability and selectivity, that is, 36.79-35 of both CO2 and CH4 was observed by increasing the filler weight percentage (0.2-1.0) and pressure (1-5 bar). However, the highest CO2/CH4 selectivity of 38.49 was achieved by CA/gamma-CD-MOF 0.4wt% MMM. (c) 2021 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Automated summary

This study investigated the permeation characteristics of CA/γ-CD-MOF mixed matrix membranes for CO2/CH4 separation, with defect-free membranes showing uniform dispersion of filler and high selectivity. Increasing filler weight percentage and pressure led to decreased permeability and selectivity for both gases, with the highest CO2/CH4 selectivity achieved by CA/γ-CD-MOF 0.4wt% MMM.