Synthesis and Characterization of Polyethersulfone/Carbon Molecular Sieve Based Mixed Matrix Membranes for Water Treatment Applications

AbstractNovel mixed matrix membrane was prepared by incorporating the carbon molecular sieves (CMS) into polyethersulfone (PES) matrix. Flat sheet membranes of different filler concentrations were synthesized through phase inversion technique. Scanning electron microscope and Thermogravimetric analyzer were used to investigate the morphology and thermal stability of synthesized membranes respectively. Finally membranes were tested for their pure water flux and sodium chloride (NaCl) rejection (100ppm aqueous solution). Investigation has shown that all synthesized membranes had asymmetric structure with thin dense top and well-defined macropores in sublayer. It is noticed that inclusion of inorganic filler has improved the thermal stability as well as pure water flux of mixed matrix membranes (upto 33.8LMH at 3bar). Moreover, synthesized mixed matrix membranes also showed better NaCl rejection (upto 26.13% at 3bar) than pure polymeric membranes

Rejection of divalent ions in commercial tubular membranes: Effect of feed concentration and anion type

Four commercial tubular membranes (AFC80, AFC30, PU608, and ES404) have been investigated in this study for their performance of binary metal ions rejection under different feed conditions. A range of salts (tin chloride, tin sulphate, calcium chloride, calcium sulphate) with divalent cations were chosen to assess the effects of different anions (chloride and sulphate) on performance of the membranes. All membranes were tested by varying the feed concentration (2500, 5000, 10,000 mg L−1) at fixed cross flow velocity of 1.5 LPM and feed pressure 1400 kPa. Observed retention (Robs%) and permeate flux (Jv) were key parameters to evaluate the performance of studied tubular membranes. It was found that increase in concentration adversely affected the both evaluation parameters, i.e., permeate flux and rejection. Nevertheless, nanofiltration type tubular membranes (AFC80 and AFC30) showed higher rejection than their counterparts, i.e., ultrafiltration type tubular membranes (ES404, PU608) for all investigated salts. Maximum observed rejection for all salts was noted for AFC80 for all salts followed by AFC30, ES404 and PU608 tubular membranes. Furthermore, it is reveal that anion types (SO42−, Cl−) of these salts played a vital role in retention of these tubular membranes when the salts with same cations were used as feed solution

Rejection of divalent ions in commercial tubular membranes: Effect of feed concentration and anion type

Four commercial tubular membranes (AFC80, AFC30, PU608, and ES404) have been investigated in this study for their performance of binary metal ions rejection under different feed conditions. A range of salts (tin chloride, tin sulphate, calcium chloride, calcium sulphate) with divalent cations were chosen to assess the effects of different anions (chloride and sulphate) on performance of the membranes. All membranes were tested by varying the feed concentration (2500, 5000, 10,000 mg L−1) at fixed cross flow velocity of 1.5 LPM and feed pressure 1400 kPa. Observed retention (Robs%) and permeate flux (Jv) were key parameters to evaluate the performance of studied tubular membranes. It was found that increase in concentration adversely affected the both evaluation parameters, i.e., permeate flux and rejection. Nevertheless, nanofiltration type tubular membranes (AFC80 and AFC30) showed higher rejection than their counterparts, i.e., ultrafiltration type tubular membranes (ES404, PU608) for all investigated salts. Maximum observed rejection for all salts was noted for AFC80 for all salts followed by AFC30, ES404 and PU608 tubular membranes. Furthermore, it is reveal that anion types (SO42−, Cl−) of these salts played a vital role in retention of these tubular membranes when the salts with same cations were used as feed solution

Technical Evaluation of Open-Art Solvents for Carbon Capture Integration in Waste to Energy Plants

Traditional energy from waste (EfW) processes lack carbon capture integration. Our research initiative is dedicated to unveiling a comprehensive toolkit to assess and guide “Carbon Capture Readiness” providing academia and industry with essential tools for a sustainable future. Innovation of the project lies in assessing the impact of parameters such as flue gas temperature, and composition etc., on integration of carbon capture facility

Technical Evaluation of Open-Art Solvents for Carbon Capture Integration in Waste to Energy Plants

Traditional energy from waste (EfW) processes lack carbon capture integration. Our research initiative is dedicated to unveiling a comprehensive toolkit to assess and guide “Carbon Capture Readiness” providing academia and industry with essential tools for a sustainable future. Innovation of the project lies in assessing the impact of parameters such as flue gas temperature, and composition etc., on integration of carbon capture facility

Catalytic Decomposition of 2% Methanol in Methane over Metallic Catalyst by Fixed-Bed Catalytic Reactor

The structure and performance of promoted Ni/Al2O3 with Cu via thermocatalytic decomposition (TCD) of CH4 mixture (2% CH3OH) were studied. Mesoporous Cat-1 and Cat-2 were synthesized by the impregnation method. The corresponding peaks of nickel oxide and copper oxide in the XRD showed the presence of nickel and copper oxides as a mixed alloy in the calcined catalyst. Temperature program reduction (TPR) showed that Cu enhanced the reducibility of the catalyst as the peak of nickel oxide shifted toward a lower temperature due to the interaction strength of the metal particles and support. The impregnation of 10% Cu on Cat-1 drastically improved the catalytic performance and exhibited 68% CH4 conversion, and endured its activity for 6 h compared with Cat-1, which deactivated after 4 h. The investigation of the spent carbon showed that various forms of carbon were obtained as a by-product of TCD, including graphene fiber (GF), carbon nanofiber (CNF), and multi-wall carbon nanofibers (MWCNFs) on the active sites of Cat-2 and Cat-1, following various kinds of growth mechanisms. The presence of the D and G bands in the Raman spectroscopy confirmed the mixture of amorphous and crystalline morphology of the deposited carbon

Passive Direct Air Capture of Carbon Dioxide with an Alkaline Amino Acid Salt in Water-Based Paints

The current study presents the first results of the passive capture of carbon dioxide from the air in aqueous sodium lysinate solutions at ambient conditions. The salt has shown good passive direct air capture (DAC) properties for carbon dioxide with spent solutions exhibiting more than 5% carbon dioxide by weight. Moreover, different quantities of sodium lysinate solutions were mixed with three commercial water-based paints, and their passive DAC performance was studied for 45 days. An average improvement of 70% in passive DAC capacity compared to the control sample was observed across all the studied paint samples. The results establish that a litre of water-based paint doped with sodium lysinate can absorb up to 40 g of CO 2 and fix it stably for a short period of time, i.e., 45 days. Such paints can be used to directly capture carbon dioxide from the air. However, further research is required to address various technicalities and establish long-term sequestration.</p

Interfacial Tailoring of Polyether Sulfone-Modified Silica Mixed Matrix Membranes for CO2 Separation

In this work, in situ polymerization of modified sol-gel silica in a polyether sulfone matrix is presented to control the interfacial defects in organic-inorganic composite membranes. Polyether sulfone polymer and modified silica are used as organic and inorganic components of mixed matrix membranes (MMM). The membranes were prepared with different loadings (2, 4, 6, and 8 wt.%) of modified and unmodified silica. The synthesized membranes were characterized using Field emission electron scanning microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analyzer, and differential scanning calorimetry. The performance of the membranes was evaluated using a permeation cell set up at a relatively higher-pressure range (5–30 bar). The membranes appear to display ideal morphology with uniform distribution of particles, defect-free structure, and absence of interfacial defects such as voids and particle accumulations. Additionally, the CO(2)/CH(4) selectivity of the membrane increased with the increase in the modified silica content. Further comparison of the performance indicates that PES/modified silica MMMs show a promising feature of commercially attractive membranes. Therefore, tailoring the interfacial morphology of the membrane results in enhanced properties and improved CO(2) separation performance