Novel Facilitated Transport Membranes for Olefin Separation Based on Water-Free Rubbery Polymer Electrolytes

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目的重点是从饱和烃中分离烯烃。在美国，包括乙烯和丙烯在内的烯烃的产量比其他任何有机化学品都要大。烯烃与饱和烃的分离目前是通过蒸馏进行的，由于组分的相对挥发性很低，这是一个极其耗能的过程。尽管聚合物膜已成功地应用于许多气体分离，包括从空气中生产氮气和从炼油厂流中除去氢气，但这种膜的选择性和气体通量不足以从饱和碳氢化合物中分离烯烃。在烯烃/石蜡分离中，促进输运膜比聚合物膜具有更高的选择性和气体通量。然而，三个问题限制了促进输运膜在工业烯烃分离中的应用：膜不稳定、气体通量低以及对饱和水进料的要求。膜技术和研究公司（MTR）提出开发一种新型的高气体通量和高选择性的固体促进传输膜，用于烯烃和饱和烃的分离。这种膜将由橡胶、聚醚基聚合物组成，这些聚合物可以掺杂多种离子盐作为气体络合剂。为了提供高的气体通量，所得到的固体聚合物电解质将形成薄膜复合膜。MTR的初步研究表明，聚合物电解质膜在烯烃/石蜡分离方面的性能明显优于传统的促进运输膜，并且可以与干进料一起使用。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project focuses on the separation of olefins from saturated hydrocarbons. Olefins, including ethylene and propylene, are produced in larger quantities than any other organic chemical in the United States. The separation of olefins from saturated hydrocarbons is currently carried out by distillation, which is an extremely energy-intensive process due to the very low relative volatilities of the components. Although polymeric membranes have been applied successfully to a number of gas separations, including nitrogen production from air and hydrogen removal from refinery streams, the selectivities and gas fluxes of such membranes are inadequate for olefin separation from saturated hydrocarbons. Facilitated transport membranes have higher selectivities and gas fluxes than polymeric membranes for olefin/paraffin separation. However, three problems have limited the application of facilitated transport membranes to industrial olefin separation applications: membrane instability, low gas fluxes, and the requirement of a water-saturated feed. Membrane Technology and Research, Inc. (MTR) proposes to develop a new type of solid facilitated transport membrane with high gas fluxes and high selectivities for the separation of olefins from saturated hydrocarbons. The membranes will consist of rubbery, polyether-based polymers that can be doped with a wide range of ionic salts as gas complexing agents. To provide high gas fluxes, the resulting solid polymer electrolyte will be formed into a thin-film composite membrane. Preliminary studies at MTR indicate that polymer electrolyte membranes can show dramatically improved performance over conventional facilitated transport membranes for olefin/paraffin separation and can be used with a dry feed.