Mixed Matrix Membranes Comprising Nanoparticles forOlefin/Paraffin Separation

Light olefins are the raw materialsfor the production of many chemicalsand thus are very important in the petrochemical industry. Membranebasedseparations have attracted much attention due to the greatadvantages such as easier processability and reduced costs compared totraditional technologies. However, adequate separation performance isdifficult to achieve using existing polymeric membranes due to thepermeability/selectivity trade-off. Mixed matrix membranes(MMMs)comprised of dispersed nanoparticles in the polymer matrix havepresented interesting approach to improve the separation performance ofpolymer membranes. In this study, the applicability of various MMMs toolefin/paraffin separation is investigated. According to the results, by theutilization of nanoparticles free volume was increased because of polymerchain disruption. In addition, it was revealed that the affinity of membranesto olefins was augmented via the addition of nanoparticles that couldincrease the polarity of membranes. Moreover, addition of porousnanoparticles improved the separation performance via improving thesieving property of the membrane. In overall, MMMs containing ZIF-8showed the best separation performance surpassing the upper bound ofpolymer membranes. This study however, accentuates the necessity ofmuch investigation to develop MMMs applicable for industrialolefin/paraffin separation.

Keywords:

Olefin/Paraffin Separation , Polymer , Nanoparticle , Mixed Matrix Membranes