Development of Ionic Liquid Mixed Matrix Membrane (ILMMM) for Carbon Dioxide Removal

Separation of acid gases such as carbon dioxide from natural gas is now becoming a vast and developed research especially using mixed matrix membrane. In this project, the aim is to synthesis/fabricate/develop ionic liquid mixed matrix membranes (ILMMM) by using solution-casting method. There were six membranes fabricated which are Polymeric Membrane, Mixed Matrix Membrane, Ionic Liquid Mixed Matrix Membrane 1, 2, 3 and 4. The membranes were characterized by using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscope (FTIR). Only PM, ILMMM 2 and ILMMM 3 were tested for the performance for CO2 and CH4 permeability and CO2/CH4 selectivity. Based on the three membranes performances that have been conducted, although ILMMM 3 has the highest permeability of CO2 across the membrane, ILMMM 2 has the highest permeability of CH4, but the overall indicator still refers to the selectivity of carbon dioxide over methane across the membrane. ILMMM 2 has the optimum composition of DCM, PSU, [(emim)(CF3SO3)] and CMS for carbon dioxide removal from natural gas. It has the highest selectivity of carbon dioxide over methane as compared to the other membrane tested.