Solvent Effect (NMP and DCM) on Morphology and C02/CH4 Separation Performance of Asymmetric Polysulfone Membranes.

Performance of a membrane is strongly influenced by the morphology ofthe membrane itself.
The choice ofthe solvent used is very critical process. The objectives of this project is to study
the effect of solvents which are DCM (dichloromethane) and NMP (N-methyl pyrrolidone) in
membrane preparation on the morphologies ofmembrane and its relation to carbon dioxide and
methane separation characteristic.
Membrane will be fabricated using wet phase inversion technique. The polymer used is
polysulfone (PSF) while the non-solvents are ethanol and water and were chosen on the basis
of the solubility parameter map. The membranes will be characterized in term of the crosssectional
morphology as well as the gas permeability. Characterization will be conducted by
using SEM to analyse the morphology, FTIR to measure molecular interactions and UTM to
measure the mechanical properties. Gas permeation unit will be used to evaluate the
performance of membrane by applying different feed pressure. The performance ofmembranes
will be evaluated by measuring C02 and CH4 permeances as well as CO2/CH4 ideal selectivity.
Therefore, the understanding of mechanism of membrane formation is very crucial in order to
produce desirable morphology that leads to enhancement of the membrane performance in
pure gas separation process.