DEVELOPMENT OF POLYMER BLEND MEMBRANE FOR GAS SEPARATION

The main objective of this work is to study the effect of solvents and polymer
blending on the development of polymeric blend membrane (PBM). Polysulfone
(PSU) and polyethersulfone (PES) were selected as glassy polymers and polyvinyl
acetate (PVAc) was chosen as rubbery polymer. Pure polymeric membranes were
prepared in N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) and N, N-Dimethylformamide (DMF)
solvents in order to evaluate the effect of casting solvent. The glassy/rubbery polymer
blend membranes were prepared by blending PSU-PVAc and PES-PVAc while the
glassy/glassy polymer blend membranes were prepared by blending PSU-PES. The
prepared pure and PBM membranes were characterized in terms of morphology,
miscibility, chemical bonding and thermal stability and tested for permeation of
carbon dioxide and methane gases.