The current work focused on defining the material science options to fabricate novel, high performing ethylene/ethane (C₂H₄/C₂H₆) separation carbon molecular sieve (CMS) dense film membranes. Three polymer precursors: Matrimid®, 6FDA-DAM and 6FDA:BPDA-DAM were used as precursors to the CMS membranes. CMS performances were tailored by way of tuning pyrolysis conditions such as the pyrolysis temperature, heating rate, pyrolysis atmosphere etc. The CMS dense film membranes showed attractive C₂H₄/C₂H₆ separation performance far exceeding the polymeric membrane performances. Semi-quantitative diffusion size pore distributions were constructed by studying the transport performance of a range of different penetrant gases as molecular sized probes of the CMS pore structure. This, in conjunction with separation performance data, provided critical insights into the structure-performance relationships of the CMS materials. The effects of testing conditions, i.e. the testing temperature, pressure and feed composition on C₂H₄/C₂H₆ separation performance of CMS dense films were also analyzed. These studies were useful not just in predicting the membrane behavior from a practical stand-point, but also in a fundamental understanding of the nature of CMS membrane separation. The study helped clarify why CMS membranes outperform polymeric membrane performance, as well as allowed comparison between CMS derived from different precursors and processing conditions. The effects on C₂H₄/C₂H₆ separation in the presence of binary gas mixture were also assessed to get a more realistic measure of the CMS performance resulting from competition and bulk flow effects. The current work thus establishes a framework for guiding research ultimately aimed at providing a convenient, potentially scalable hollow fiber membrane formation technology for C₂H₄/C₂H₆ separation
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:GATECH/oai:smartech.gatech.edu:1853/50121 |
| Date | 07 November 2012 |
| Creators | Rungta, Meha |
| Contributors | Koros, William J. |
| Publisher | Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Source Sets | Georgia Tech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
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