EFFECTS OF SILICA COMPOSITION ON GAS PERMEABILITY OF ENR/PVC MEMBRANE

This paper studied the potential of a hybrid organic-inorganic membrane, ENR/PVC/SiO2 membrane for separation purposes. The ENR/PVC/SiO2 membranes were prepared using spontaneous solvent exchange and evaporation techniques. The amount of SiO2 added was varied at 1, 3, 5 and 8 wt%. The SEM micrographs showed that pores were developed upon addition of SiO2. The tensile strength and modulus were also enhanced with increasing amount of SiO2 up to 5 wt%. At higher SiO2 loadings, the mechanical strength of the membrane decreased due to the agglomeration of SiO2 particles. Gas permeation test was done on ENR/PVC/SiO2 membranes using NO2 gas and CO2 gas. The permeability of both gasses increased with the amount of SiO2 added to the membrane, which attributed to the increase in nanopores. The membranes with SiO2 had a higher permeability to CO2 than NO2.