Enhanced CO2/H2 separation by GO and PVA-GO embedded PVAm nanocomposite membranes

Abstract

The objective of this Ph.D. project is to develop facilitated transport nanocomposite membranes with superior CO2/H2 separation performances for H2 purification. The research activities include material synthesis, membrane development and evaluation, and process design and feasibility study by simulation. Two types of graphene oxide (GO) based 2D nanosheets and four different mobile carriers of varied physical and chemical properties were introduced into the selected facilitated transport membrane matrix based on polyvinyl amine (PVAm). The effects of nanofillers and mobile carriers were investigated to determine optimal membrane materials. Meanwhile, to evaluate the techno-economic feasibility of using the developed membranes for biohydrogen purification, a two-stage process was designed and optimized to purify biohydrogen from dark fermentation by removing CO2. Three-stage membrane systems were also evaluated to demonstrate the potential of simultaneous CO2 capture. Simplified models to study the effect of relative humidity (RH), operating temperature, and CO2 partial pressure inside hollow fiber membrane modules were also developed to predict these parameters in large-scale membrane modules.