Development of PSF/APTES-nano-MCM-48 Mixed Matrix Membrane for CO2/CH4 Separation

The incorporation of inorganic fillers into polymer matrix forms mixed matrix
membrane (MMM). Generally, due to the low hydrophobicity of inorganic fillers,
undesirable voids are formed on the polymer-inorganic interface, which affects the gas
separation performance of the MMMs. In addition to that, the trace addition of nanosized inorganic fillers reported to have smaller inter-particle free-space length
compared to micro-sized inorganic fillers on polymer matrix. Thus, this project
focused on MMM fabrication using polysulfone (PSf) and functionalized-nano-MCM48 as the polymer matrix and inorganic filler respectively to separate CO2 from CH4.
Nano-sized MCM-48 particles was synthesized via modified Stöber method and
further functionalized with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) via post synthesis
grafting method to increase its surface hydrophobicity.