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Project

Epoxide-based membranes: a new, versatile platform for more energy-efficient CO2 and olefin/paraffin gas separations.

Global warming is one of the key challenges that our society faces. Therefore, CO2 capture from power plants and industrial exhaust streams aims at strongly reducing anthropogenic CO2 emissions, while CO2 removal from energy streams is of utmost importance in industry. Next to CO2-separations, C2-C3 separation (ethylene/ethane and propylene/propane) is important as well, carrying an economic value of several hundreds of billion USD but also an immense energy consumption. Membrane-based gas separation (GS) is considered to be a viable alternative for traditional separation technologies, although current state-of-the-art membranes often lack the required separation performance. In this project, the highly tunable epoxy-ether chemistry is applied as a platform for the development of high-performance poly(epoxyether) GS membranes. These membranes are interesting for CO2 separations due to (1) high ethylene oxide content, (2) the presence of quaternary ammonium groups, (3) their highly cross-linked nature, making them plasticization-resistant, and (4) the possibility to develop them as thin films. Furthermore, by impregnating the poly(epoxyether) membranes with olefin-selective ionic liquids, highly efficient olefin/paraffin separations can be carried out. Through (1) an elaborate parameter study and (2) testing under industrial conditions, structure-performance relationships will be obtained and used to develop GS membranes with excellent performance under industrial conditions.

Date:24 Aug 2020 →  Today
Keywords:Carbon dioxide and olefin/paraffin gas separations, Poly(epoxyether) membranes, Industry-oriented development through realistic testing conditions
Disciplines:Membrane technologies, Polymers and plastics
Project type:PhD project