Antiplasticization and plasticization of Matrimid® asymmetric hollow fiber membranes. Part B. Modeling

A previous paper characterized effects of exposure of Matrimid® asymmetric fibers to either toluene or n-heptane or a combination of both contaminants during permeation. In all cases, reductions in the carbon dioxide permeance and the carbon dioxide/methane selectivity were observed for both annealed and non-annealed samples. In this paper, the respective potential impacts of competitive sorption, fiber compaction, and antiplasticization/plasticization on membrane performance during contaminant exposure are quantified and analyzed. The combined impact of competitive sorption and antiplasticization/plasticization are shown to account for the loss in membrane performance observed during exposure to highly sorbing feed stream contaminants. The dual mode transport model for penetrant mixtures was used to explain reduction in CO2 permeance due to competitive sorption effects, while free volume-based modeling explained decrease in CO2 permeance due to antiplasticization. Finally, the impact on CO2 permeance during exposure of the annealed Matrimid® fibers to contaminants is analyzed. The analysis is based on reduction in segmental mobility expected due to reduction of residual unrelaxed volume as compared to unanealed sample.