Development of high performance surface modified polyetherimide hollow fiber membrane for gas–liquid contacting processes

Low wettability is a vital characteristic for the membrane used in membrane contactor. Blending surface modifying macromolecule (SMM) in spinning dope is an interesting method to enhance the hydrophobicity of membrane and in this research, the effect of SMM on the properties and structure of polyetherimide (PEI) hollow fiber membrane in terms of mean pore size, liquid entry pressure of water (LEPw), membrane porosity and contact angle was investigated and compared with the properties of the PEI membrane without SMM.Furthermore the performance of PEI surface modified membrane in contactor applications in terms of CO2 absorption with distilled water was evaluated and compared with the absorption flux of PEI membrane without SMM and also, with the absorption flux of commercial and in-house made hydrophobic membranes which shows superior performance of surface modified PEI membrane e.g. in case of water in lumen side and pure CO2 in shell side of contactor and at Vliquid = 0.5 m s−1, the absorption flux of PEI surface modified membrane is 2.94 × 10−3 mol m−2 s−1 which is 114% higher than PEI without SMM and 73% higher than commercial membrane contactor, Celgard MiniModule® 0.75X5.

► Polyetherimide (PEI) was used as the base polymer for membrane fabrication.
► Surface modifying macromolecules (SMMs) was used to enhance the surface hydrophobicity of HFM.
► The characteristics of surface modified HFM was compared with the membrane without SMM.
► The surface modified HFM was used in membrane contactor for absorption of CO2 with water.
► The performance of surface modified HFM in membrane contactor is much higher than hydrophobic membranes.