Mahdi Naghsh - Department of Chemical Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran
Morteza Sadeghi - Department of Chemical Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran
Ali Bolverdi - Department of Chemical Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran
Mahdi Pourafshari Chenar - Department of Chemical Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran

cellulose acetate(CA)-silica nanocomposite membrane has been synthesized via the sol gel method and its ability in separation of ethylene/ethane gases studied. SEM and FTIRanalyses were employed in order to characterize the CA and CA-silica membranes. In contrast of glassy polymer, innanocomposite membrane the separation factor was reversed and the best performance was observed for nanocomposite membrane with 5wt% silica that selectivity reversed andincreased by 34%. The obtained results show that ethylene and ethane did not plasticize the membrane material in the range of the studied pressures.