Fabrication of PEBA/ceramic nanocomposite membranes in gas sweetening

Poly (ether-block-amide) (PEBA)/ceramic nanocomposite hybrid membranes were fabricated by dip-coating of ceramic nanocomposite porous support in PEBA solution and their performance in gas separation (CO2 and N-2) was examined. Tubular supports were used as substrates for hybrid membranes and Poly (ether-block-amide) was applied as a selective layer. PEBA based on N6 and PEO was synthesized via a two step process. The formation of new ester bond between N6 and PEO in the synthesized copolymer was proved by FT-IR spectroscopy. AFM micrographs indicated that the morphology is the dispersion of high stiffness nanostructured PA domains in the amorphous region of PEO matrix. Experimental results showed that at high concentration of coating solution, a uniform PEBA layer was formed on the porous ceramic support with higher performance for the separation of CO2/N-2 binary gas mixture. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.