Nanocomposite membranes functionalized with facilitated transport and molecular sieving for challenging gas separations

具有促进传输和分子筛功能的纳米复合膜，可用于具有挑战性的气体分离

• 批准号: RGPIN-2019-04186
• 负责人: Feng, Xianshe
• 金额: $ 4.01万
• 依托单位: University of Waterloo
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=747132
• 关键词: Nanocomposite; membranes; functionalized; facilitated; transport

The proposed research will pursue a transformative approach to developing nanocomposite membranes functionalized with facilitated transport and molecular sieving to effect gas separations that are important to Canadian industries, but challenging to carry out with current technologies. Specifically, this research aims at developing cutting-edge mixed-matrix nanocomposite membranes with both facilitated transport and molecular sieving functionalities tailored for (1) olefin/paraffin separation (to replace or complement with traditional energy-intensive cryogenic distillation), (2) CO2 capture from flue gas (for greenhouse gas emission control), and (3) removal of N2 from CH4 for upgrading sub-quality natural gas. Olefin separation and natural gas denitrogenation are two most challenging operations in the gas industry, and flue gas separation is critical for carbon capture to mitigate greenhouse gas emission. Built on our accomplishments in innovative membranes via nanostructuring and functionalization, this work will lead to breakthroughs in advancing up-scalable membranes for these challenging gas separations, which are all directly related to Canada's petrochemical, resource and energy sectors. The fundamental aspects of the facilitating agents, the molecular sieving materials, and the synergy of both functions in the membrane for enhanced separation will be investigated. For facilitated transport of olefin and CO2, the facilitating agents will function as a "carrier" to transport the target gas molecules across the membrane. Silver ions and amine molecules (both monomeric and polymeric amines) will be chosen as the facilitating agents for olefin and CO2, respectively, to exploit the specific olefin-silver and CO2-amine interactions. For N2/CH4 separation, suitable facilitating agents are lacking, and instead block copolymers with micro-biphase separated nanostructures will be used as the base membrane to achieve N2/CH4 separation based on discretive diffusion. In all cases, the membranes will be incorporated with appropriate MOF/ZIF sieves to further augment the separation via molecular sieving . The resulting mixed matrix nanocomposite membranes are expected to exhibit superior performance due to combined facilitated transport and molecular sieving (for olefin and CO2 applications) and the double discretive diffusivities of the base polymer and MOF/ZIF sieves towards N2/CH4 gas pair. A composition-nanostructure-permselectivity relationship will be established to guide development of these novel membranes for practical applications. This research is highly original and innovative; this is the first time that facilitated transport is integrated with molecular sieving within a membrane. Not only does this work directly address Canada's industrial needs for advanced membranes, it will also contribute significantly to advancing knowledge and training of highly qualified personnel.

拟议的研究将寻求一种变革性的方法来开发具有促进传输和分子筛功能的纳米复合膜，以实现对加拿大工业很重要的气体分离，但用现有技术进行具有挑战性。具体来说，本研究旨在开发尖端的混合基质纳米复合膜，具有促进传输和分子筛分功能，专为 (1) 烯烃/石蜡分离（取代或补充传统的能源密集型低温蒸馏）、(2) CO2从烟道气中捕获（用于控制温室气体排放），以及（3）从 CH4 中去除 N2，以升级劣质天然气。烯烃分离和天然气脱氮是天然气行业中最具挑战性的两个操作，烟气分离对于碳捕获以减少温室气体排放至关重要。基于我们通过纳米结构和功能化在创新膜方面取得的成就，这项工作将在用于这些具有挑战性的气体分离的可扩展膜方面取得突破，这些都与加拿大的石化、资源和能源行业直接相关。将研究促进剂、分子筛材料以及膜中两种功能的协同作用以增强分离的基本方面。为了促进烯烃和CO2的传输，促进剂将充当“载体”来跨膜传输目标气体分子。将分别选择银离子和胺分子（单体胺和聚合胺）作为烯烃和 CO2 的促进剂，以利用特定的烯烃-银和 CO2-胺相互作用。对于N2/CH4分离，缺乏合适的促进剂，取而代之的是具有微双相分离纳米结构的嵌段共聚物作为基膜来实现基于离散扩散的N2/CH4分离。在所有情况下，膜都将与适当的 MOF/ZIF 筛结合，以通过分子筛进一步增强分离。由于促进传输和分子筛（用于烯烃和 CO2 应用）的结合以及基础聚合物和 MOF/ZIF 筛对 N2/CH4 气体对的双离散扩散性，所得混合基质纳米复合膜预计将表现出优异的性能。将建立成分-纳米结构-选择性渗透关系来指导这些新型膜的实际应用开发。本研究具有很强的原创性和创新性；这是首次将促进传输与膜内的分子筛结合起来。这项工作不仅直接满足加拿大对先进膜的工业需求，还将为提高知识水平和培训高素质人才做出重大贡献。