Achieving to the Best Morphology and Performance of Hollow Fiber Membranes for H2/CH4 Separation

In this study, forty different formulations of asymmetric hollow fiber (HF) membranes were designed for H2 recovery application at high pressure. Polyethersulfone (PES) was selected as the basic polymer for membrane preparation process. The effect of various parameters such as composition and rate of dope amp; bore solutions, air gap, dope amp; coagulation bath tempareture were investigated. Morphological and structural analysis based on Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) revealed fifteen of the best membranes. In the next step, pure gas separation experiment was conducted at high pressure. On the basis of pure test results, six of the membranes with the highest ideal selectivity were selected, which all of the related spinning parameters have been described in this paper. For evaluation of the mechanical strength and pressure endurance of these six membranes at high pressure conditions, tensile analysis was performed, which all of them shoed satisfying results. In future work, mixed gas permeation analysis will be designed and conducted at high pressures to simulate their performance for industrial applications