Preparation and characterization of an amino-cellulose (AC) derivative for development of thin-film composite membrane for CO2/CH4 separation

This article reports the synthesis of a new amino-cellulose (AC) derivative. The prepared AC has tertiary amino as well as triazole groups which are basic and able to act as good carriers for facilitated transportation of CO2. The prepared AC was characterized by FT-IR and H-NMR spectroscopy and used as a carrier of CO2 in blend with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). The blends of AC-PAV were prepared at different mass fractions and cast on a commercial polysulfone (PS) ultrafiltration membrane as support. Prepared AC-PVA/PS thin film composite membranes (TFC) were applied as facilitated transport membranes for efficient separation of CO2 from CH4 in a gas mixture at different operating conditions. Here, we investigated the effect of CA mass fraction, feed pressure, and feed temperature on the CO2 permeance, CH4 permeance, and CO2/CH4 selectivity of prepared AC-PVA/PS thin composite membranes.