Methane permeability glassy polymers

The second key factor determining permeability in polymers is the sorption coefficient. The data in Figure 2.18 show that sorption coefficients for a particular gas are relatively constant within a single family of related materials. In fact, sorption coefficients of gases in polymers are relatively constant for a wide range of chemically different polymers. Figure 2.25 plots sorption and diffusion coefficients of methane in Tanaka s fluorinated polyimides [23], carboxylated polyvinyl trimethylsiloxane [37] and substituted polyacetylenes [38], all amorphous glassy polymers, and a variety of substituted siloxanes [39], all rubbers. The diffusion... 

In contrast to the LCP results just presented, in glassy polymers used as gas separation membranes, free volume influences diffusion coefficients much more than solubility coefficients. Figure 6 provides an example of this effect. In this figure, the solubility, diffusivity, and permeability of methane in a series of glassy, aromatic, amorphous poly(isophthalamides) [PIPAs] are presented as a function of the fractional free volume in the polymer matrix. (More complete descriptions of the transport properties of this family of materials are available elsewhere (59, 40)). The fractional free volume is manipulated systematically in this family of glassy polymers by synthesizing polymers with different substituent and backbone elements as shown in... 

Figure 9. Pure gas propane permeability and propane/methane selectivity for a series of selected organic liquids (O), rubbery siloxane-based polymers ( ), and glassy polymers ( ). The glassy polymers include PI, a polyimide (79), PC, polycarbonate (80), PS, polystyrene (81), and PTMSP (82), Data for the siloxane-based rubber polymers are from Stem et al (83), The solubility of propane and methane in selected organic liquids (hexane, heptane, octane, acetone, benzene, methanol, and ethanol) is from the compilation by Fogg and Gerrard (72). Diffusion coefficients of propane and methane in these liquids were estimated using the Tyn and Calus correlation (46 48),...

Poly(4-methyl-2-pentyne) [PMP] is a glassy, disubstituted, purely hydrocarbon-based polyacetylene. PMP has a density of only 0.78 g/cm and a high fractional free volume of 0.28. The polymer has very high hydrocarbon permeabilities for example, the /i-butane permeability of PMP in a mixture of 2 mol% n-butane in methane is 7,500 X lO l cm3(STP) cm/cm2 s cmHg at 25 C. In contrast to conventional, low-free-volume glassy polymer membranes, PMP is significantly more permeable to n-butane than to methane in gas mixtures. In this paper, we present the gas permeation properties of PMP in mixtures of -butane with methane. The mixed-gas permeation and physical aging properties of PMP are compared to those of poly(l-trimethylsilyl-l-propyne), the most permeable polymer known. 

The n-butane/methane selectivity increased monotonically from 8 to 24 as the feed temperature was decreased from 50 to 2°C, as shown in Figure 5. It is important to note that both n-butane permeability and n-butane/methane selectivity increased in the PMP membrane as the feed temperature decreased. This temperature/permeability behavior is completely different from that in low-free-volume glassy polymers used... 

As opposed to regular glassy polymers, poly(lLs) do not show a minimum in permeation rates for CO2 the permeability increases continuously with increasing feed pressure. Non-plasticizing methane shows a pressure independent permeability. 

Glassy polymeric materials are often plasticized when used in gas membranes due to sorption. This can be overcome by annealing or crosshnking, however, this method does not influence the selectivity of the membrane, instead the permeability is decreased. Another method to stabilize the plasticization is to use polymer blends, as demonstrated with Matrimid 5218 and a copoly(imide) P84. The material is stabilized against carbon dioxide plasticization and the selectivity for a mixture of carbon dioxide and methane is improved. Hollow fiber membranes composed of blends of Pis with enhanced resistance towards hydrocarbons have been developed. ... 

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