Showing papers on "Permeation published in 2020"

Development of Poly(Vinyl Alcohol)-Based Polymers as Proton Exchange Membranes and Challenges in Fuel Cell Application: A Review

Abstract: Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) is a biodegradable, water-soluble membrane that has low methanol permeation and reactive chemical functionalities. Modification of these features makes PVA an attractive p...

Removal of Dyes Using Graphene Oxide (GO) Mixed Matrix Membranes.

Abstract: The application of membrane technology to remove pollutant dyes in industrial wastewater is a significant development today. The modification of membranes to improve their properties has been shown to improve the permeation flux and removal efficiency of the membrane. Therefore, in this work, graphene oxide nanoparticles (GO-NPs) were used to modify the polyethersulfone (PES) membrane and prepare mixed matrix membranes (MMMs). This research is dedicated to using two types of very toxic dyes (Acid Black and Rose Bengal) to study the effect of GO on PES performance. The performance and antifouling properties of the new modified membrane were studied using the following: FTIR, SEM, AFM, water permeation flux, dye removal and fouling, and by investigating the influence of GO-NPs on the structure. After adding 0.5 wt% of GO, the contact angle was the lowest (39.21°) and the permeable flux of the membrane was the highest. The performance of the ultrafiltration (UF) membrane displayed a rejection rate higher than 99% for both dyes. The membranes showed the highest antifouling property at a GO concentration of 0.5 wt%. The long-term operation of the membrane fabricated from 0.5 wt% GO using two dyes improved greatly over 26 d from 14 d for the control membrane, therefore higher flux can be preserved.

Permeation Damage of Polymer Liner in Oil and Gas Pipelines: A Review.

Abstract: Non-metallic pipe (NMP) materials are used as an internal lining and standalone pipes in the oil and gas industry, constituting an emerging corrosion strategy. The NMP materials are inherently susceptible to gradual damage due to creep, fatigue, permeation, processing defects, and installation blunder. In the presence of acid gases (CO2, H2S), and hydrocarbons under high pressure and temperature, the main damage is due to permeation. The monitoring of possible damage due to permeation is not well defined, which leads to uncertainty in asset integrity management. Assessment of permeation damage is currently performed through mechanical, thermal, chemical, and structural properties, employing Tensile Test, Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Fourier-transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)/Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), to evaluate the change in tensile strength, elongation, weight loss or gain, crystallinity, chemical properties, and molecular structure. Coupons are commonly used to analyze the degradation of polymers. They are point sensors and did not give real-time information. Polymers are dielectric materials, and this dielectric property can be studied using Impedance Analyzer and Dielectric Spectroscopy. This review presents a brief status report on the failure of polymer liners in pipelines due to the exposure of acid gases, hydrocarbons, and other contaminants. Permeation, liner failures, the importance of monitoring, and new exclusive (dielectric) property are briefly discussed. An inclusive perspective is provided, showing the challenges associated with the monitoring of the polymer liner material in the pipeline as it relates to the life-time prediction requirement.

Improving the Efficiency of PEM Electrolyzers through Membrane-Specific Pressure Optimization

Abstract: Hydrogen produced in a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzer must be stored under high pressure. It is discussed whether the gas should be compressed in subsequent gas compressors or by the electrolyzer. While gas compressor stages can be reduced in the case of electrochemical compression, safety problems arise for thin membranes due to the undesired permeation of hydrogen across the membrane to the oxygen side, forming an explosive gas. In this study, a PEM system is modeled to evaluate the membrane-specific total system efficiency. The optimum efficiency is given depending on the external heat requirement, permeation, cell pressure, current density, and membrane thickness. It shows that the heat requirement and hydrogen permeation dominate the maximum efficiency below 1.6 V, while, above, the cell polarization is decisive. In addition, a pressure-optimized cell operation is introduced by which the optimum cathode pressure is set as a function of current density and membrane thickness. This approach indicates that thin membranes do not provide increased safety issues compared to thick membranes. However, operating an N212-based system instead of an N117-based one can generate twice the amount of hydrogen at the same system efficiency while only one compressor stage must be added.

Effect of Crystallinity on Water Vapor Sorption, Diffusion, and Permeation of PLA-Based Nanocomposites.

Abstract: The effects of crystalline morphology and presence of nanoparticles such as cellulose nanofibers (CNFs), organically modified nanoclay (C30B), or a combination of both on water vapor sorption and diffusion in polylactide (PLA) were evaluated by a quartz spring microbalance (QSM). It was found that the large spherulite size induced by high-temperature processing leads to an increase in water sorption and a substantial reduction of diffusion with increasing crystallinity. Contrarily, small-sized spherulites, arising after low-temperature processing during solvent-casting, showed a different behavior with a slight decrease in both water vapor sorption and diffusion with increasing crystallinity. These observations suggest that solvent-casting at low temperatures should not be used to predict the properties a material will show after industrial-scale processing. From the analysis of the nanocomposite materials, it was concluded that nanoparticles affected the material's properties not only by themselves but also by modifying the crystalline morphology. Interestingly, this led to CNF showing similar performance to C30B, decreasing water diffusivity (21 vs 27%) on isothermally crystallized materials despite its less favorable geometry. Additionally, the incorporation of 1 wt % CNF and C30B decreased water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) by 24% under an amorphous state but by 44% in a crystallized state, which makes hybrid CNF/C30B composites a promising food packaging material.

Ultrafast water-selective permeation through graphene oxide membrane with water transport promoters

Abstract: Funding information Innovative Research Team Program by the Ministry of Education of China, Grant/Award Number: IRT_17R54; National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant/Award Numbers: 21606123, 21490585, 51861135203; Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, Grant/Award Number: BK20160980; Topnotch Academic Programs Project of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (TAPP) Abstract Graphene oxide (GO), as a representative two-dimensional material, has shown great prospect in developing high-performance separation membranes via forming ordered and tunable nanochannels. However, for aqueous molecular separations, the implementation of an excellent separation performance remains a critical challenge due to the membrane swelling phenomenon and the trade-off effect between permeation flux and separation factor. Herein, a facile and tunable approach is presented for introducing water transport promoters into GO interlayer channels to construct water transport highways. The combination of covalently cross-linked channel structure, facilitated water-selective sorption, and expedited water-preferential diffusion overcome the trade-off effect, achieving a superior performance from an ultrathin GO membrane with a flux of 5.94 kg/m∙h and a water/butanol separation factor of 3,965, which exceeds the performance of state-of-the-art membranes for water/ butanol separation. The strategy proposed here is straightforward, holding great potential to produce high-efficiency GO and other two-dimensional (2D)-material membranes for precise aqueous molecular separations.

Pebax® 2533/Graphene Oxide Nanocomposite Membranes for Carbon Capture.

Abstract: In this work, the behavior of new GO-based mixed matrix membranes was tested in view of their use as CO2-selective membrane in post combustion carbon capture applications. In particular, the new materials were obtained by mixing of Pebax® 2533 copolymer with different types of graphene oxide (GO). Pebax® 2533 has indeed lower selectivity, but higher permeability than Pebax® 1657, which is more commonly used for membranes, and it could therefore benefit from the addition of GO, which is endowed with very high selectivity of CO2 with respect to nitrogen. The mixed matrix membranes were obtained by adding different amounts of GO, from 0.02 to 1% by weight, to the commercial block copolymers. Porous graphene oxide (PGO) and GO functionalized with polyetheramine (PEAGO) were also considered in composites produced with similar procedure, with a loading of 0.02%wt. The obtained films were then characterized by using SEM, DSC, XPS analysis and permeability experiments. In particular, permeation tests with pure CO2 and N2 at 35°C and 1 bar of upstream pressure were conducted for the different materials to evaluate their separation performance. It has been discovered that adding these GO-based nanofillers to Pebax® 2533 matrix does not improve the ideal selectivity of the material, but it allows to increase CO2 permeability when a low filler content, not higher than 0.02 wt%, is considered. Among the different types of GO, then, porous GO seems the most promising as it shows CO2 permeability in the order of 400 barrer (with an increase of about 10% with respect to the unloaded block copolymer), obtained without reducing the CO2/N2 selectivity of the materials, which remained in the order of 25.

Selective Permeation of Water through Angstrom-Channel Graphene Membranes for Bioethanol Concentration.

Abstract: Graphene-based laminate membranes have been theoretically predicted to selectively transport ethanol from ethanol-water solution while blocking water. Here, robust angstrom-channel graphene membranes (ACGMs) fabricated by intercalating carbon sheets derived from chitosan into thermally reduced graphene oxide (GO) sheets are reported. ACGMs with robust and continuous slit-shaped pores (an average pore size of 3.9 A) are investigated for the dehydration of ethanol. Surprisingly, only water permeates through ACGMs in the presence of aqueous ethanol solution. For the water-ethanol mixture containing 90 wt% ethanol, water can selectively permeate through ACGMs with a water flux of 63.8 ± 3.2 kg m-2 h-1 at 20 °C and 389.1 ± 19.4 kg m-2 h-1 at 60 °C, which are over two orders of magnitude higher than those of conventional pervaporation membranes. This means that ACGMs can effectively operate at room temperature. Moreover, the ethanol can be fast concentrated to high purity (up to 99.9 wt%). Therefore, ACGMs are very promising for production of bioethanol with high efficiency, thus improving its process sustainability.

Effect of biopolymers on permeability of sand-bentonite mixtures

Abstract: Application of biopolymer-modified geomaterials in waste disposal practices is gaining wide acceptance due to their superior tensile characteristics and improved crack resistance. Permeability is an important design parameter which determines the suitability of a material as a liner for construction of engineered landfills. Given this, the permeability characteristics of sand-bentonite mixtures amended with biopolymers was studied using a modified-falling head permeability apparatus under an accelerated gravity environment. Both distilled water and synthetic leachate were utilized as permeant liquid to assess the role of biopolymer amendment on the permeation behavior of sand-bentonite mixtures. Experimental results indicate that addition of biopolymers causes aggregation of the clay platelets, which in turn enhances the permeation behavior of the biopolymer-modified sand-bentonite mixtures. These mixtures meet the regulatory requirement of the liner.

Crumpled Two-Dimensional Ti3C2Tx MXene Lamellar Membranes for Solvent Permeation and Separation

Abstract: Lamellar membranes assembled from two-dimensional (2D) materials represent a type of advanced separation membrane. However, obtaining 2D materials from assembled lamellar membranes with high permea...