Sharif Digital Repository

Mixed matrix membranes of synthesized polyurethane (PU) based on toluene diisocyanate (TDI), polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and polytetramethylene glycol (PTMG) with polyvinyl alcohol based polar silica particles were prepared by solution casting technique. The homogeneity and thermal properties of the prepared PDMS-PU/silica membranes were characterized using scanning electron microscope (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). The SEM micrographs confirmed the distribution of silica particles in the polymer matrix without agglomerations. Gas permeation properties of membranes with different silica contents were studied for pure CO2, CH4, O2, He... 

Novel PVA/PEG cross-linked membranes were prepared with (0–20 wt. %) of silica nanoparticles. The presence of both the polymers and additive was confirmed by FTIR analysis. The thermal properties of the membranes were analyzed by TGA and DSC analysis. The morphological and mechanical properties of the membranes were studied by SEM analysis and tensile testing, respectively. The gas permeation performances of the membranes were examined using state-of-the-art gas permeability cell. It was found that permeability of all the gases increased with the increase of silica loading, whereas ideal selectivity of carbon dioxide with respect to nitrogen and methane increased up to 10 wt. % loading and... 

In this work, poly(vinyl) alcohol (PVA)/poly(ethylene) glycol (PEG) 600 g/mol cross-linked membranes with different alumina (Al2O3) content were synthesized. The membranes were then characterized by FTIR, TGA, DSC, SEM, mechanical strength and permeation properties for carbon dioxide and nitrogen gases at different operating temperatures. The FTIR results confirmed the acetal linkages of cross-linking at 1083 cm−1 and the presence of stretching and bending peaks of Al-O bond at 598 and 444 cm−1, respectively. TGA results showed that the thermal stabilities of the membranes improved with the addition of alumina particles. DSC analysis proved that the glass transition temperature of the... 

In this article an attempt was made to fabricate defect-free asymmetric polysulfone (PSf) membranes for the separation of oxygen and nitrogen. The approach is based on the enhanced delayed demixing by blending surface modifying macromolecules (SMMs) in the casting solution and by immersing the cast film in isopropanol for a certain period before it is immersed in water. Different SMMs, including hydrophobic and charged SMMs, were synthesized, characterized, and blended to the host PSf. It was found that the charged SMM could indeed contribute to the removal of defective pores from the skin layer and enhancement of oxygen/nitrogen selectivity. The experimental results were further interpreted... 

New membrane materials and processes have been extensively developed due to urgent needs for much more economic separation processes. Recently, graphene has been confirmed to be an excellent separation membrane. As there is no support in the obtained three-dimensional (3D) architecture constructed from tubular graphene network, it is possible to take full advantage of the large surface of graphene. In this study 3D graphene aerogels were synthesized by a simple method and modified to adjust hydrophilicity of the samples to achieve high liquid volumetric rate. Modified samples were used for the filtration of the enzymes including amylase, cellulase, lipase and protease. Slightly differently... 

The gas separation properties of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) membranes containing 18 and 28 wt% of vinyl acetate (VA) were investigated in this study. The effects of membrane preparation conditions, such as thermal and thermal/wet phase inversion, and the type of solvent on the gas separation properties of EVA membranes were investigated. The permeation of pure O2, N2, CH4, and CO2 gases at different feed pressures ranging from 2 to 11 bar were examined. The results indicated that the CO2 permeability was evidently higher than those of the other gases. Furthermore, the solubility mechanism was found to be the dominant mechanism for permeation of gases through EVA membranes. Moreover, the... 

Integrally skinned asymmetric membranes for the separation of O 2 and N 2 were fabricated by the phase inversion technique from polysulfone, polyetherimide, and polyimide. Two types of surface modifying macromolecules (SMMs) including hydrophilic SMM (LSMM) and charged SMM (cSMM) were synthesized and blended with the casting solution to modify the membrane surface. The cast film was then immersed in the first coagulant alcohol (methanol, ethanol, or isopropanol) for a predetermined period, before being immersed in the second coagulant (water). The SMMs used in these experiments were laboratory synthesized by the two-step process of polyurethane prepolymer synthesis and end capping, before... 

Low-frequency O 2 plasma was used to modify the surface of polysulfone gas-separation membranes. The effects of the treatment time and plasma power input on the membranes were also investigated. Pure CO 2 and CH 4 gas-permeation measurements were performed before and after plasma treatment. The results show the increase of permeability of the treated membranes due to surface ablation and surface polarization up to 5.63 and 68.80 gas-permeation units for CH 4 and CO 2, respectively, whereas, the CO 2/CH 4 selectivity of the treated membranes varied from 7.7 to 45.3, depending on the treatment conditions. Attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy determined the... 

Abstract In this study, Molecular Dynamics (MD) and Grand Canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations were conducted to investigate the diffusivity, solubility, and permeability of CO2, CO, H2, and H2O in a polyurethane membrane at three different temperatures. The characterization of the simulated structures was carried out using XRD, FFV, Tg and density calculation, and cavity size distribution. The obtained results were within the expectations reported data in the literature based on the experimental approach, indicating the authenticity of approached in this work. The results showed that the highest diffusivity and permeability coefficients were observed for... 

In this study, maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene microporous flat-sheet membranes were prepared via a thermally induced phase separation method with a mixture of dibutyl phthalate and dioctyl phthalate as a diluent. The effects of the polymer composition and coagulation bath temperature on the morphology and performance of the fabricated membranes were investigated. The hydrophilicity results of the membranes demonstrated that membrane modification reduced the water contact angle by about 45°, whereas the pure water flux was enhanced about four times. The antifouling behavior of the fabricated membranes was also investigated in a membrane bioreactor. The results show that the pure water... 

In the present work, a series of polysulfone (PSf) mixed-matrix nanofiltration membranes containing highly water stable UiO-66 metal-organic framework (MOF) were prepared via a simple phase inversion technique. At first, UiO-66 particles were synthesized via a solvothermal technique, activated via two various activation methods, including Soxhlet extraction and centrifugation methods. Then their adsorption performance was investigated for adsorption of anionic methyl orange (MO)/methyl red (MR) and cationic methylene blue (MB)/malachite green (MG) dyes from water. The activated UiO-66 particles via the Soxhlet extraction method (named S-UiO-66) showed better performance for dye adsorption...