Recent advances in the development of supported carbon membranes for gas separation

Carbon membranes have emerged in the 70's and have been presenting promising results for application in processes involving gas separation because of their sieving effects. The carbon membranes are obtained by pyrolysis of a precursor polymer beyond its initial decomposition temperature under essentially inert conditions. Supported and unsupported carbon membranes can be produced, but the former are distinguished for the industrial separation of gases due to the improved mechanical strength and high chemical and thermal stability. In this context, different types of support, coating methods and pyrolysis conditions for supported carbon membranes have been reported in the literature, in order to improve the separation capability of gas mixtures in respect to permeability and selectivity. The aim of this review article is to report and discuss the evolution of supported carbon membrane in the last 10 years in respect to configuration, transport mechanisms, manufacturing processes and its main applications, highlighting the main challenges still to be overcome for this technology to be applied industrially.