SBIR Phase II: Novel Nanostructured Polymers for Membrane Separations

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）二期项目的重点是开发新型纳米结构聚合物/无机杂化膜，该膜具有显著提高渗透性和有机蒸汽/永久气体选择性。从氢气、氮气和甲烷等永久气体中分离碳氢化合物蒸汽的膜气体分离工艺在美国的应用越来越广泛。在过去几年中，大约安装了50台膜气体分离装置。目前的系统使用硅橡胶复合膜，但具有更高选择性的膜将显著提高该工艺的竞争力。本研究的目的将是开发填充聚乙炔基膜。第一阶段的项目表明，这些膜比硅橡胶具有更强的选择性，并且具有更高的渗透性。这些膜的分离机制与硅橡胶完全不同，可以改变蒸汽/气体分离膜的竞争力。第二阶段的项目将集中于(1)膜的优化和放大，(2)阐明纳米结构膜独特的气体传输特性，以及(3)实验规模的实验，以证明使用这些膜分离工业上重要的气体混合物的实用性。该项目开发的膜的应用包括从氮气吹扫流中回收丙烯、乙烯、氯乙烯和其他单体；炼油厂轻烃与氢的分离；以及在天然气加工过程中从甲烷中分离出C+3碳氢化合物。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project focuses on the development of novel nanostructured polymer/inorganic hybrid membranes with significantly improved permeability and organic vapor/permanent gas selectivity. Separation of hydrocarbon vapors from the permanent gases, hydrogen, nitrogen and methane, are growing applications of membrane gas separation processes throughout the U.S. Approximately 50 units have been installed in the last few years. Current systems use silicone rubber composite membranes, but membranes with higher selectivities would significantly improve the competitiveness of the process. The objective of this research will be to develop filled polyacetylene-based membranes. The Phase I project demonstrated that these membranes are significantly more selective than silicone rubber as well as confirming higher permeabilities. These membranes separate by a completely different mechanism than silicone rubber and could transform the competitiveness of vapor/gas separating membranes. The Phase II project will focus on (1) membrane optimization and scale-up, (2) elucidation of the unique gas transport properties of the nanostructured membranes, and (3) bench-scale experiments to demonstrate the practicality of using these membranes to separate industrially important gas mixtures. Applications of the membranes to be developed in this project include recovery of propylene, ethylene, vinyl chloride, and other monomers from nitrogen purge streams; separation of light hydrocarbons from hydrogen in refineries; and separation of C+3 hydrocarbons from methane during natural gas processing.