Polyurethane-based membranes for CO2 separation: A comprehensive review

The membrane process has been considered a promising technology for effective CO2 capture due to its outstanding features, including a small environmental footprint, reduced energy consumption, simplicity of operation, compact design, ease of scalability and maintenance, and low capital cost. Among the developed polymeric materials for membrane fabrication, polyurethane (PU) and poly(urethane-urea) (PUU) as multi-block copolymers have exhibited great potential for CO2 capture because of their excellent mechanical properties, high thermal stability, good film formation ability, favorable permeation properties, and a large diversity of monomers (i.e., polyol, diisocyanate, and chain extender) for the synthesis of desired polymers with prescribed properties. However, PU- and PUU-based membranes' gas selectivity is relatively low and thus not attractive for practical gas separation (GS) applications. Therefore, the present review scrutinizes the main influential factors on the gas transport properties and GS performance of these membranes. In this regard, we summarize the recent progress in the PU-based membranes in view of (I) design and synthesis of new PUs, (II) blending with other polymeric matrices, (III) cross-linking PU membranes, and (IV) fabricating PU-based mixed-matrix membranes (MMMs) with deep insight into an increase in CO2 permeability, as well as CO2/other gases selectivity. Finally, the challenges and future direction of PU-based membranes will be presented.

Automated summary

The membrane process is a promising technology for CO2 capture due to its environmental-friendly features and low cost. However, the gas selectivity of polyurethane-based membranes is relatively low, which limits their practical application. This review focuses on the key factors affecting the gas transport properties and gas separation performance of these membranes, and summarizes the recent progress in polyurethane-based membranes.