Suppression of Membrane Plasticization in H2/CO2 Gas Separation by incorporating ZIF-8 nanoparticles in the Matrimid Matrix

Mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) of Matrimid and zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIF-8) have been investigated for H2/CO2 separation and suppression of CO2 plasticization. ZIF-8 loading was varied between 0-30 wt%. At high pressures, the pristine Matrimid membrane showed typical plasticization behavior at 10-12 bar, while in MMMs, ZIF-8 particles limited the mobility of polymer chains, thus could suppress CO2-induced plasticization. This work reveals that embedded ZIF-8 into Matrimid could delay CO2-induced plasticization and show good separation performance even at high pressures. Experimental results show that the plasticization pressure is increased to above 25 bar by incorporation of 30 wt% ZIF-8 in the Matrimid matrix.

Keywords:

Plasticization , Gas separation , Matrimid , ZIF-8 , Mixed Matrix Membranes.