Julia PIOTROWSKA1
1Technische Universität Wien, Vienna, Austria
Design and application of catalytically active membrane reactors
Julia A. Piotrowska1*, Katharina Bica-Schröder1 and Michael Harasek2
1 Technische Universität Wien, Institute for Applied Synthetic Chemistry, Getreidemarkt 9/E163, Austria
2 Technische Universität Wien, Institute of Chemical, Environmental and Bioscience Engineering,
Getreidemarkt 9/E166, Austria
* julia.kalarus@tuwien.ac.at
In order to mitigate deleterious anthropogenic effects of emitted carbon dioxide (CO2), various systems for CO2 capture and storage (CSS) have been developed. Among a wide range of methods such as adsorption, absorption or cryogenic distillation, membrane-based separation processes have attracted a significant interest, due to their mild operating conditions, easy scale-up and low energy consumption [1]. Apart from CO2 separation, utilization of CO2 and its conversion into value-added products can be considered as a promising way to reduce the CO2 level in the atmosphere [2]. Thus, combining the catalytic CO2 conversion together with the membrane-based separation process, appears as the most comprehensive strategy towards the independence from fossil raw materials and energy sources.
The overall goal of our research is the development of functionalized polymeric membranes, which would exhibit a superior gas-separation performance. Moreover, the modification of membranes should allow for an implementation of catalytically active species for CO2 conversion. Subsequently, the modified membranes may be applied in the membrane-based reactors, where both separation and catalyzed CO2 conversion take place simultaneously. Membranes which are based on ionic liquids are known to exhibit excellent gas separation properties, due to the significantly higher solubility for different gases, such as CO2. Moreover, they may serve as a catalyst for various reactions [4].
Herein, we present the preparation of coated polymeric flat sheet membranes. For the polymer dope polyethersulfone (PES) was chosen due to its superior capability for CO2 separation. Membranes were coated with a solution of Pebax 1657, a block copolymer which is commonly known to improve the separation performance of the membrane. The coating solution was enriched by the addition of selected ionic liquids, [C6mim][NTF2] and [C6mim]Cl, since they are known to promote the gas separation performance of membranes [4]. The impact of the various ionic liquid content was investigated. We have also applied the aforementioned coating solutions as the coating material for the second type of membrane configuration- hollow fibers. Commercially available polymeric hollow fibers were coated via continuous coating method.
Ultimately, morphologies of the coated membranes were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Gas separation properties were investigated by the single gas permeation tests. For the reference, the flat sheet membranes have been coated with the analogous coating solutions.
Acknowledgements
This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Grant agreement No. 864991).
References
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