Preparation and performance of cellulose acetate/polyethyleneimine blend microfiltration membranes and their applications

A modified microfiltration membrane has been prepared by blending a matrix polymer with a functional polymer. Cellulose acetate (CA) was blended with polyethyleneimine (PEI), which was then crosslinked by polyisocyanate, in a mixture of solvents. In the membrane, PEI can supply coupling sites for ligands in affinity separation or be used as ligands for metal chelating, removal of endotoxin or ion exchange. The effects of the time of phase inversion induced by water vapor, blended amount of PEI and amount of crosslinking agent on membrane performance were investigated. The prepared blend membranes have specific surface area of 12.04-24.11 m(2)/g and pure water flux (PWF) of 10-50 ml/cm(2) min with porosity of 63-75%. The membranes, made of 0.15 50 wt.% PEI/CA ratio and 0.5 crosslinking agent/PEI ratio, were applied to adsorbing Cu2+ and bovine serum albumin (BSA) individually. The maximum adsorption capacity of Cu2+ ion on the blend membrane is 7.42 mg/g dry membrane. The maximum adsorption capacities of BSA on the membranes with and without chelating Cu2+ ion are 86.6 and 43.8 mg/g dry membrane, respectively. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Enlarged area A-type zeolite membranes prepared by vacuum seeding method

High quality A-type zeolite membranes, with enlarged area over 70 cm(2), were successfully synthesized on a tubular alpha-Al2O3 support by applying the vacuum seeding method.

Gas permeation performance of cellulose hollow fiber membranes made from the cellulose/N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide/H2O system

Cellulose hollow fiber membranes (CHFM) were prepared using a spinning solution containing N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide as solvent and water as a nonsolvent additive. Water was also used as both the internal and external coagulant. It was demonstrated that the phase separation mechanism of this system was delayed demixing. The CHFM was revealed to be homogeneously dense structure after desiccation. The gas permeation properties of CO2, N-2, CH4, and H-2 through CHFM were investigated as a function of membrane water content and operation pressure. The water content of CHFM had crucial influence on gas permeation performance, and the permeation rates of all gases increased sharply with the increase of membrane water content. The permeation rate of CO2 increased with the increase of operation pressure, which has no significant effect on N-2, H-2, and CH4. At the end of this article a detailed comparison of gas permeation performance and mechanism between the CHFM and cellulose acetate flat membrane was given. (C) 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Preparation of A-type zeolite membranes on nonporous metal supports by using electrophoretic technique

A-type zeolite membranes were prepared on the nonporous metal supports by using electrophoretic technique. The as-synthesized membranes were characterized by XRD and SEM. The effect of the applied potential on the formation of the A-type zeolite membrane was investigated, and the formation mechanism of zeolite membrane in the electric field was discussed. The results showed that the negative charged zeolite particles could migrate to the anode metal surface homogenously and rapidly under the action of the applied electric field, consequently formed uniform and dense membranes in short time. The applied potential had great effect on the membrane formation, and more uniform and denser zeolite membranes were prepared on the nonporous metal supports with 1 V potential.

Oxidative activation of light alkanes on dense ionic oxygen conducting membranes

The oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane to ethylene (ODHE) has been studied in a catalytic membrane reactor (CMR) using a dense mixed ionic oxygen and electronic conducting perovskite membrane Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3-&. At 1080K, an ethylene yield of 66% was obtained with the bare membrane. After Pd cluster deposition, the ethylene yield reached 76% at 1050K. Ni cluster deposition led to a decrease of ethane conversion compared to the bare membrane without changing ethylene selectivity.

Synthesis and properties of A-type zeolite membranes by secondary growth method with vacuum seeding

A-type zeolite membranes were successfully synthesized on tubular alpha-Al2O3 supports by secondary growth method with vacuum seeding In the seeding process, a thin, uniform and continuous seeding layer was closely attached to the support surface by the pressure difference between the two sides of the support wall. The effects of seed particle size, suspension concentration, coating pressure difference and coating time on the membrane and its pervaporation properties were investigated. The as-synthesized membranes were characterized by XRD and SEM. The quality of the membranes was evaluated by the pervaporation dehydration of 95 wt. % isopropanol/water mixture at 343 K. High quality A-type zeolite membranes can be reproducibly prepared by the secondary growth method with vacuum seeding under the conditions: seed particle size of 500-1200 nm, suspension concentration of 4-8 g/l, coating pressure difference of 0.0100-0.0250 MPa and coating time of 45-180 s. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Degradation mechanism of polystyrene sulfonic acid membrane and application of its composite membranes in fuel cells

The lifetime behavior of a H-2/O-2 proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell with polystyrene sulfonic acid (PSSA) membrane have been investigated in order to give an insight into the degradation mechanism of the PSSA membrane. The distribution of sulfur concentration in the cross section of the PSSA membrane was measured by energy dispersive analysis of X-ray, and the chemical composition of the PSSA membrane was characterized by infrared spectroscopy before and after the lifetime experiment. The degradation mechanism of the PSSA membrane is postulated as: the oxygen reduction at the cathode proceeds through some peroxide intermediates during the fuel cell operation, and these intermediates have strong oxidative ability and may chemically attack the tertiary hydrogen at the a carbon of the PSSA; the degradation of the PSSA membrane mainly takes place at the cathode side of the cell, and the loss of the aromatic rings and the SO3- groups simultaneously occurs from the PSSA membrane. A new kind of the PSSA-Nafion composite membrane, where the Nafion membrane is bonded with the PSSA membrane and located at the cathode of the cell, was designed to prevent oxidation degradation of the PSSA membrane in fuel cells. The performances of fuel cells with PSSA-Nafion101 and PSSA-recast Nafion composite membranes are demonstrated to be stable after 835 h and 240 h, respectively.

Nafion/PTFE composite membranes for fuel cell applications

Porous polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membranes were used as support material for Nafion((R))/PTFE composite membranes. The composite membranes were synthesized by impregnating porous PTFE membranes with a self-made Nafion solution. The resulting composite membranes were mechanically durable and quite thin relative to traditional perfluorosulfonated ionomer membranes (PFSI); we expect the composite membranes to be of low resistance and cost. In this study, we used three kinds of porous PTFE films to prepare Nafion/PTFE composite membranes of different thickness. Scanning electron micrographs and oxygen permeabilities showed that Nafion resin is distributed uniformly in the composite membrane and completely plug the micropores, there is a continuous thin Nation film present on the PTFE surface. The variation in water content of the composite and Nafion 115 membranes with temperature was determined. At the same temperature, water content of the composite membranes was smaller than that of the Nafion 115. In both dry and wet conditions, maximum strength and break strength of C-325(#) and C-345(#) were larger than those of Nafion 112 due to the reinforcing effect of the porous PTFE films. And the PEMFC performances and the lifetime of the composite membranes were also tested on the self-made apparatus. Results showed that the bigger the porosity of the substrate PTFE films, the better the fuel cell performance; the fuel cell performances of the thin composite membranes were superior to that of Nation 115 membrane; and after 180 h stability test at 500 mA/cm(2), the cell voltage showed no obvious drop. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.