Nowadays the development of green alternative sources of energy is an active research area because increased demand for sustainable energy, environmental pollution, the global warming due to emission of greenhouse gases. In this context, biogas is one of the most promising alternative energy sources. Biogas contains 50-65% of methane, 30-40% of CO2 and traces of other impurities and humidity. Since the heating value of biogas is proportional to the methane concentration, the removal of the impurities and CO2 is required [1]. The purified product can be introduced into the methane market as an alternative and green-solution for the energy demand. Among the possible biogas purification techniques, membrane processes present the advantage of operation simplicity, easy maintenance, safety and economic operation. Which can be operated on site. Moreover, the product is obtained at high pressure. The present work discusses the CO2/CH4 separation by poly(ether-b-amide) (PEBAX® 1657) /polyacrylonitrile (PAN) composite hollow fiber membranes, prepared by a new continuous coating method based on cross flow-filtration of a PEBAX solution [2]. This technique allows simultaneous internal coating of a large number of the porous PAN hollow fibres with a thin selective dense layer of PEBAX®, directly inside the module. The selective dense layer in the lumen of the fibres has the advantage of being mechanically protected by accidental damages that are possible when the coating layer is on the outer surface of the fibres. The membrane preparation was optimized by modulating different parameters, such as coating time, pressure, polymer concentration and support pre-treatment. The behaviour of the coating solution was investigated by rheological measurements. Single gas permeation measurements were carried out to determine the effective thickness and the integrity of the coating layer [3] and the gas separation performance of the membrane module. The presence of the dense layer was confirmed by IR spectroscopy and the morphology of the composite membranes was observed by SEM analysis. The goal of this work is to optimize the permeability, selectivity and stability of the composite membranes, produced via a new coating method based on cross flow-filtration, for application in biogas purification. Acknowledgements: funding was received from the Italian "Programma Operativo Nazionale Ricerca e Competitività" 2007-2013, project PON01_01840 "MicroPERLA". References 1. M. Poloncarzova, J. Vejrazka, V. Vesely, P. Izak, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 50 (2011) 669. 2. F. Tasselli, F. Bazzarelli, P. Bernardo, J.C. Jansen, G. Clarizia, Proc. Eng.. 44 (2012) 710. 3. P. Bernardo, J.C. Jansen, F. Bazzarelli, F. Tasselli, A. Fuoco, K. Friess, P. Izak, V. Jarmarova, M. Kacirkova, G. Clarizia, Sep. Purif. Technol., 97 (2012) 73.
New coating method to prepare composite PEBAX®/PAN hollow fibre membranes for Biogas purification
F Tasselli;G Clarizia;E Esposito;P Bernardo;J C Jansen;
2014
Abstract
Nowadays the development of green alternative sources of energy is an active research area because increased demand for sustainable energy, environmental pollution, the global warming due to emission of greenhouse gases. In this context, biogas is one of the most promising alternative energy sources. Biogas contains 50-65% of methane, 30-40% of CO2 and traces of other impurities and humidity. Since the heating value of biogas is proportional to the methane concentration, the removal of the impurities and CO2 is required [1]. The purified product can be introduced into the methane market as an alternative and green-solution for the energy demand. Among the possible biogas purification techniques, membrane processes present the advantage of operation simplicity, easy maintenance, safety and economic operation. Which can be operated on site. Moreover, the product is obtained at high pressure. The present work discusses the CO2/CH4 separation by poly(ether-b-amide) (PEBAX® 1657) /polyacrylonitrile (PAN) composite hollow fiber membranes, prepared by a new continuous coating method based on cross flow-filtration of a PEBAX solution [2]. This technique allows simultaneous internal coating of a large number of the porous PAN hollow fibres with a thin selective dense layer of PEBAX®, directly inside the module. The selective dense layer in the lumen of the fibres has the advantage of being mechanically protected by accidental damages that are possible when the coating layer is on the outer surface of the fibres. The membrane preparation was optimized by modulating different parameters, such as coating time, pressure, polymer concentration and support pre-treatment. The behaviour of the coating solution was investigated by rheological measurements. Single gas permeation measurements were carried out to determine the effective thickness and the integrity of the coating layer [3] and the gas separation performance of the membrane module. The presence of the dense layer was confirmed by IR spectroscopy and the morphology of the composite membranes was observed by SEM analysis. The goal of this work is to optimize the permeability, selectivity and stability of the composite membranes, produced via a new coating method based on cross flow-filtration, for application in biogas purification. Acknowledgements: funding was received from the Italian "Programma Operativo Nazionale Ricerca e Competitività" 2007-2013, project PON01_01840 "MicroPERLA". References 1. M. Poloncarzova, J. Vejrazka, V. Vesely, P. Izak, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 50 (2011) 669. 2. F. Tasselli, F. Bazzarelli, P. Bernardo, J.C. Jansen, G. Clarizia, Proc. Eng.. 44 (2012) 710. 3. P. Bernardo, J.C. Jansen, F. Bazzarelli, F. Tasselli, A. Fuoco, K. Friess, P. Izak, V. Jarmarova, M. Kacirkova, G. Clarizia, Sep. Purif. Technol., 97 (2012) 73.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
