SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF BTDA-ODA AND BPDA-ODA MEMBRANE

Recently, membrane is a separation process that has gained attention from different industries, especially membranes for gas separation processes such as removal of carbon dioxide from natural gas. From all the researches and findings, the most conventional polymeric membrane is the cellulose acetate membrane with low-cost as one of the benefits. In this research, the main focus will be on polyimide which is currently considered as a new kind of membrane with lesser reference compared with other kinds of membrane, thus it is proposed to be a replacement for cellulose acetate membrane, and a new alternative material for membrane fabrication. This research will mainly focus on the optimization of parameters of the fabrication of flat-sheet polyimide membrane using dry-wet phase inversion method. In this research, BTDA (3, 3’, 4, 4’ – benzophenonetetracarboxylic dianhydride) and BPDA (3, 3', 4, 4' – biphenyl tetracarboxylic dianhydride) are mixed with ODA (4, 4’ – dianiline) separately to form BTDA-ODA and BPDA-ODA using DMAc (N, N – dimethylacetamide) and DMF (dimethylformamide) as the solvent. Two different solvents are used to ensure poly amic acid with better viscosity. In the coagulation bath, water is used as the initial non-solvent for the precipitation of the membrane. Characterizations to be done are by using FESEM (Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy) and TGA (Thermal Gravimetry Analysis. Parameters such as concentration of polymers, choices and concentration of solvent and ratio of non-solvent are adjusted to perform optimization of the membrane fabrication.