Effects of Halloysite Nanoclay Filler on Mixed Matrix Membrane (MMM) for CO2 Removal

Membrane separation technology plays an important role in natural gas CO2/CH4 separation. Mixed matrix membrane (MMM) is one of the many types of membrane used and its advantage over other types of membrane is that it has the mechanical strength and cheap production cost of organic membrane, in the same time have the superior selectivity – permeability trade off of inorganic membranes. There are various combinations when it comes to synthesis of MMM. Generally, an inorganic filler is embedded into a polymeric matrix to form MMM. One of the combinations never ventured by researchers is the polysulfone (PSf) – halloysite MMM. This project aims to elucidate the casting formulation of pristine PSf membrane (a type of organic membrane) and to study the effects of halloysite nanoclay filler in PSf membrane. The membranes synthesized will be characterized using FESEM, TGA, and DSC. The first part of the project involves synthesis of membranes using pure polysulfone and a mixture of polysulfone – halloysite nanoclay fillers. In the second part of the project, the membranes synthesized are characterized using analytical tools. The effects of halloysite nanoclay fillers in polysulfone membrane are investigated and the best composition will be determined. The best MMM chosen is 20wt% PSf – 3wt% halloysite mixed matrix membrane. It has a decomposition temperature of 519.18oC. The total remaining residue after heating the membrane up to 730oC is 27.63wt%. The glass transition temperature, Tg of the membrane is 184.34oC.