Development of novel facilitated transport membrane for selective separation of CO2 from H2 and N2

A novel facilitated transport membrane consisting of 2,3-diaminopropionic acid (DAPA) as a selective carrier of CO2 and PVA/PAA gel as support was developed for the removal of CO2 from the water gas shift reactor in the hydrogen production plants. The membrane performance was tested by the experiments on the selective separation of CO2 at the temperature from 125°C to 160°C and the feed gas pressure from 100 kPa to 700 kPa. High CO2 permeance and CO2/H2 selectivity were obtained at higher temperatures. Obtained results showed that the water content in the membrane is one of the key factors, which determines the CO2 permeance and CO2/H2 selectivity. It was also found that increasing the carrier concentration could significantly enhance the membrane performance, especially at elevated temperatures.