Study on gas separation by supported liquid membranes applying novel ionic liquids Original Research Article

In the present study, the permeability of H2, N2 and CO2 was investigated through supported liquid membranes prepared by using four types of novel ionic liquids (VACEM 42, VACEM 44, VACEM 47, VACEM 58) under various gas phase pressures (2.2 bar, 1.8 bar, 1.4 bar) and temperatures (30°C, 40°C, 50°C). VACEM type ionic liquids, which are built up of a common hexafluorophosphate anion and different cations, were tailored in order to dissolve CO2. Since CO2 can cause unfavorable changes in the mechanical and chemical properties of the PVDF membranes used as the supporting phase, the stability of the membranes was studied by measuring decrease in H2 permeability after the permeation of CO2. For determining selectivity the membranes were used to separate binary and ternary gas mixtures. It was found that the permeability of CO2 was much higher than the permeability of the other two gases through the membranes prepared with VACEM type ionic liquids. Gas permeability exhibited an increase with increasing temperature and a slight decrease with increasing gas phase pressure. Experiments concerning stability showed that after several CO2 permeations through membranes containing VACEM type ionic liquids the permeability of H2 slightly decreased while the CO2/H2 selectivity improved.