Polyetherimide-montmorillonite mixed matrix hollow fibre membranes: Effect of inorganic/organic montmorillonite on CO2/CH4 separation

Hollow fibre mixed matrix (HFMM) membranes with nano-filler embedded in polymer matrix offer an attractive route for the fabrication of high performance gas separation membranes. However, the quest to achieve high performance mixed matrix membranes remains a challenge without acquiring even filler distribution in polymer matrix. In this work, HFMM membranes comprising polyetherimide (PEI) with various inorganic and organic montmorillonite (I-MMT and O-MMT) loadings ranging from 1 to 4 wt%, were developed via phase inversion method and coated with PDMS for CO2/CH4 separation. Morphological, filler distribution, dispersion, surface topology and gas separation studies were carried out for developed hollow fibre (HF) membranes. Pure gases (CO2 and CH4) were used at varying pressure of 2-10 bars at ambient conditions. In addition, mixed gas test at CO2/CH4 composition of 50/50 v/v % was carried out for selected membranes. Upon incorporation of I-MMT, the developed mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) showed decrease in CO2/CH4 gas separation performance compared to neat PEI membrane. In contrast, the performance of asymmetric membrane was enhanced by incorporating O-MMT in PEI matrix to form MMMs. Uniform dispersion, void-free morphology and reduced surface roughness were observed for the aforementioned membranes. Furthermore, an increasing trend in ideal selectivity was observed up to 2 wt% O-MMT loading against all feed pressures. Thereafter, opposite trend was observed with increasing filler loading due to filler agglomeration. The maximum ideal selectivity achieved was 18.35 with 2 wt% loading at 4 bar pressure which is 52.2% higher than neat PEI hollow fibre membrane.