Decarboxylation Induced Crosslinking: a Promising Method to Improve the Anti CO2 Plasticization of Gas Separation Membranes

摘要

Natural gas containing CO2 will cause pipeline corrosion and decrease calorific capacity value. In the past, traditional methods, such as adsorption, cryogenic distillation, pressure swing adsorption in some applications were used for CO2 removal [1]. Concerning cost, requirements for energy and effectiveness, membrane separation is a better choice for natural gas sweetening. Membrane materials are noticeably important for achieving high gas permeability and selectivity. In the case of CO2/CH4 separation, the ability of anti CO2 induced plasticization is especially important. Until now, a number of polymers are available to be used as membrane material such as: cellulose acetate, polysulfone, polydimethylsiloxane, polycarbonate, polyimide etc. [2]. Among them, aromatic polyimides are very prospective due to their characteristic of high thermal stability, good mechanical strength, and chemical stability. Polyimide membranes have been used in applications such as the separation of O2/N2 and CO2/CH4 [1]. However, due to the limited resistance to CO2 plasticization, polyimide membranes need to be further modified.