Nanocomposite membranes functionalized with facilitated transport and molecular sieving for challenging gas separations

拟议的研究将寻求一种变革性的方法，开发具有促进运输和分子筛功能的纳米复合膜，以实现对加拿大工业很重要的气体分离，但用现有技术进行具有挑战性。具体而言，本研究旨在开发尖端的混合基质纳米复合膜，其具有促进运输和分子筛功能，适用于（1）烯烃/石蜡分离（以取代或补充传统的能源密集型低温蒸馏），（2）从烟道气中捕获CO2（用于温室气体排放控制），以及（3）从CH 4中去除N2以升级劣质天然气。烯烃分离和天然气脱氮是天然气工业中最具挑战性的两个操作，而烟气分离对于碳捕集以减少温室气体排放至关重要。基于我们通过纳米结构和功能化在创新膜方面的成就，这项工作将导致在推进这些具有挑战性的气体分离的可扩展膜方面取得突破，这些气体分离都与加拿大的石化，资源和能源部门直接相关。促进剂的基本方面，分子筛材料，和两个功能的协同作用，在膜增强分离将被调查。为了促进烯烃和CO2的运输，促进剂将起到“载体”的作用以运输目标气体分子穿过膜。选择银离子和胺分子（单体和聚合胺）分别作为烯烃和CO2的促进剂，以利用特定的烯烃-银和CO2-胺相互作用。对于N2/CH 4分离，缺乏合适的促进剂，而是将具有微两相分离的纳米结构的嵌段共聚物用作基膜以实现基于离散扩散的N2/CH 4分离。在所有情况下，膜将与适当的M0 F/ZIF筛结合以进一步增强通过分子筛的分离。预期所得混合基质纳米复合材料膜由于组合的促进输送和分子筛分（用于烯烃和CO2应用）以及基础聚合物和MOF/ZIF筛朝向N2/CH 4气体对的双离散扩散率而展现出上级性能。将建立一个组成-纳米结构-选择渗透性的关系，以指导这些新型膜的实际应用开发。这项研究具有高度的原创性和创新性;这是第一次将促进运输与膜内的分子筛相结合。这项工作不仅直接解决了加拿大对先进膜的工业需求，而且还将大大有助于提高知识和培训高素质的人才。

The proposed research will pursue a transformative approach to developing nanocomposite membranes functionalized with facilitated transport and molecular sieving to effect gas separations that are important to Canadian industries, but challenging to carry out with current technologies. Specifically, this research aims at developing cutting-edge mixed-matrix nanocomposite membranes with both facilitated transport and molecular sieving functionalities tailored for (1) olefin/paraffin separation (to replace or complement with traditional energy-intensive cryogenic distillation), (2) CO2 capture from flue gas (for greenhouse gas emission control), and (3) removal of N2 from CH4 for upgrading sub-quality natural gas. Olefin separation and natural gas denitrogenation are two most challenging operations in the gas industry, and flue gas separation is critical for carbon capture to mitigate greenhouse gas emission. Built on our accomplishments in innovative membranes via nanostructuring and functionalization, this work will lead to breakthroughs in advancing up-scalable membranes for these challenging gas separations, which are all directly related to Canada's petrochemical, resource and energy sectors.******The fundamental aspects of the facilitating agents, the molecular sieving materials, and the synergy of both functions in the membrane for enhanced separation will be investigated. For facilitated transport of olefin and CO2, the facilitating agents will function as a “carrier” to transport the target gas molecules across the membrane. Silver ions and amine molecules (both monomeric and polymeric amines) will be chosen as the facilitating agents for olefin and CO2, respectively, to exploit the specific olefin-silver and CO2-amine interactions. For N2/CH4 separation, suitable facilitating agents are lacking, and instead block copolymers with micro-biphase separated nanostructures will be used as the base membrane to achieve N2/CH4 separation based on discretive diffusion. In all cases, the membranes will be incorporated with appropriate MOF/ZIF sieves to further augment the separation via molecular sieving . The resulting mixed matrix nanocomposite membranes are expected to exhibit superior performance due to combined facilitated transport and molecular sieving (for olefin and CO2 applications) and the double discretive diffusivities of the base polymer and MOF/ZIF sieves towards N2/CH4 gas pair. A composition-nanostructure-permselectivity relationship will be established to guide development of these novel membranes for practical applications.******This research is highly original and innovative; this is the first time that facilitated transport is integrated with molecular sieving within a membrane. Not only does this work directly address Canada's industrial needs for advanced membranes, it will also contribute significantly to advancing knowledge and training of highly qualified personnel.