Asymmetric Polysulfone-Cloisite 15A® Nanocomposite Membrane for Gas Separation

Abstract

Defect-free asymmetric Polysulfone (PSF)-Cloisite 15A^® nanocomposite membrane was fabricated with the intention to investigate the gas permeation behavior of the resulting material combination. Various weights of Cloisite 15A^® organoclay were added into PSF matrices by solution intercalation method assisted by sonication dispersion. The gas permeation properties of the PSF-Cloisite 15A^® nanocomposite membranes were evaluated by pure gases: nitrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide. The distribution of Cloisite 15A^® particles in PSF matrices was analyzed by SEM. The gas flux of the PSF-Cloisite 15A^® nanocomposite membranes declined as the Cloisite 15A^® weight loading increased. The CO₂/CH₄ and CO₂/N₂ pure gas selectivity of PSF nanocomposite with 0.5 wt. % of Cloisite 15A^® loading exceeded that of neat PSF membrane. The decrease in flux followed by the increase in pure gas selectivity was related to the way in which the clay layers were dispersed in the PSF matrices. Considerable improvement in CO₂ selectivity was attainable even by incorporating low amount of such layered structure nanoparticle which can be attractive in producing robust materials for CO₂-removal membranes from CO₂-containing gas streams such as post-combustion and natural gas streams.