Air plasma assisted spray coating of Pebax-1657 thin-film composite membranes for post-combustion CO₂ capture

With recent focus on achieving carbon neutrality to tackle global warming, there is an increasing need for advanced carbon capture technology to reduce carbon emission to the atmosphere. Membrane separation is one of such technologies that can remove carbon dioxide (CO2) in an energy-efficient and c...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jiang, Xu, Goh, Kunli, Wang, Rong
Other Authors: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: 2022
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/163515
_version_ 1811692883286163456
author Jiang, Xu
Goh, Kunli
Wang, Rong
author2 School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
author_facet School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Jiang, Xu
Goh, Kunli
Wang, Rong
author_sort Jiang, Xu
collection NTU
description With recent focus on achieving carbon neutrality to tackle global warming, there is an increasing need for advanced carbon capture technology to reduce carbon emission to the atmosphere. Membrane separation is one of such technologies that can remove carbon dioxide (CO2) in an energy-efficient and cost-effective way. In particular, the well-studied thin-film composite (TFC) membranes based on commercial polyethylene oxide (PEO)-containing materials have demonstrated strong promise for large-scale industrial post-combustion CO2 capture. However, to realize high-performance PEO-based TFC membranes, a key challenge lies in maximizing the reduction in the thickness of the selective layer without compromising membrane integrity, which to date has achieved little progress probably due to the failure in addressing the poor selective/gutter layer interfacial compatibility issue. Here, we adopted a facile spray coating method to design a TFC membrane comprising an ultrathin Pebax-1657 selective layer, a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) gutter layer, and a porous polysulfone (PSF) substrate. To increase surface hydrophilicity and wettability for enhancing interfacial compatibility between the selective and gutter layers, the surface of the PDMS gutter layer was activated for a few seconds by air plasma prior to Pebax-1657 spray coating. Coupled with well-controlled spray coating manipulation, a defect-free Pebax-1657 selective layer with an ultrathin thickness as low as 30 nm could be formed. Correspondingly, the optimized TFC membrane exhibited a highest CO2 permeance at 2022 GPU with a CO2/N2 selectivity of close to 30.0, far surpassing the threshold for commercially viable post-combustion CO2 capture (CO2 permeance ≥1000 GPU and CO2/N2 selectivity ≥20). More importantly, the use of spray coating endows the TFC design with great scalability potential, rendering our membranes, which are made solely from commercially available materials, highly relevant for industrial CO2 separation.
first_indexed 2024-10-01T06:42:51Z
format Journal Article
id ntu-10356/163515
institution Nanyang Technological University
language English
last_indexed 2024-10-01T06:42:51Z
publishDate 2022
record_format dspace
spelling ntu-10356/1635152022-12-08T02:07:36Z Air plasma assisted spray coating of Pebax-1657 thin-film composite membranes for post-combustion CO₂ capture Jiang, Xu Goh, Kunli Wang, Rong School of Civil and Environmental Engineering Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute Singapore Membrane Technology Centre Engineering::Environmental engineering Air Plasma Spray Coating With recent focus on achieving carbon neutrality to tackle global warming, there is an increasing need for advanced carbon capture technology to reduce carbon emission to the atmosphere. Membrane separation is one of such technologies that can remove carbon dioxide (CO2) in an energy-efficient and cost-effective way. In particular, the well-studied thin-film composite (TFC) membranes based on commercial polyethylene oxide (PEO)-containing materials have demonstrated strong promise for large-scale industrial post-combustion CO2 capture. However, to realize high-performance PEO-based TFC membranes, a key challenge lies in maximizing the reduction in the thickness of the selective layer without compromising membrane integrity, which to date has achieved little progress probably due to the failure in addressing the poor selective/gutter layer interfacial compatibility issue. Here, we adopted a facile spray coating method to design a TFC membrane comprising an ultrathin Pebax-1657 selective layer, a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) gutter layer, and a porous polysulfone (PSF) substrate. To increase surface hydrophilicity and wettability for enhancing interfacial compatibility between the selective and gutter layers, the surface of the PDMS gutter layer was activated for a few seconds by air plasma prior to Pebax-1657 spray coating. Coupled with well-controlled spray coating manipulation, a defect-free Pebax-1657 selective layer with an ultrathin thickness as low as 30 nm could be formed. Correspondingly, the optimized TFC membrane exhibited a highest CO2 permeance at 2022 GPU with a CO2/N2 selectivity of close to 30.0, far surpassing the threshold for commercially viable post-combustion CO2 capture (CO2 permeance ≥1000 GPU and CO2/N2 selectivity ≥20). More importantly, the use of spray coating endows the TFC design with great scalability potential, rendering our membranes, which are made solely from commercially available materials, highly relevant for industrial CO2 separation. Economic Development Board (EDB) Nanyang Technological University The authors would like to acknowledgement the Singapore Membrane Technology center, Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute, Nanyang Technological University, and the financial support of Economic Development Board of Singapore. 2022-12-08T02:07:36Z 2022-12-08T02:07:36Z 2022 Journal Article Jiang, X., Goh, K. & Wang, R. (2022). Air plasma assisted spray coating of Pebax-1657 thin-film composite membranes for post-combustion CO₂ capture. Journal of Membrane Science, 658, 120741-. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2022.120741 0376-7388 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/163515 10.1016/j.memsci.2022.120741 2-s2.0-85132727775 658 120741 en Journal of Membrane Science © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
spellingShingle Engineering::Environmental engineering
Air Plasma
Spray Coating
Jiang, Xu
Goh, Kunli
Wang, Rong
Air plasma assisted spray coating of Pebax-1657 thin-film composite membranes for post-combustion CO₂ capture
title Air plasma assisted spray coating of Pebax-1657 thin-film composite membranes for post-combustion CO₂ capture
title_full Air plasma assisted spray coating of Pebax-1657 thin-film composite membranes for post-combustion CO₂ capture
title_fullStr Air plasma assisted spray coating of Pebax-1657 thin-film composite membranes for post-combustion CO₂ capture
title_full_unstemmed Air plasma assisted spray coating of Pebax-1657 thin-film composite membranes for post-combustion CO₂ capture
title_short Air plasma assisted spray coating of Pebax-1657 thin-film composite membranes for post-combustion CO₂ capture
title_sort air plasma assisted spray coating of pebax 1657 thin film composite membranes for post combustion co₂ capture
topic Engineering::Environmental engineering
Air Plasma
Spray Coating
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/163515
work_keys_str_mv AT jiangxu airplasmaassistedspraycoatingofpebax1657thinfilmcompositemembranesforpostcombustionco2capture
AT gohkunli airplasmaassistedspraycoatingofpebax1657thinfilmcompositemembranesforpostcombustionco2capture
AT wangrong airplasmaassistedspraycoatingofpebax1657thinfilmcompositemembranesforpostcombustionco2capture