Experimental investigation of the permeability and selectivity of supported ionic liquid membranes for CO2/He separation at temperatures up to 125 °C

Supported liquid membranes have been prepared by impregnation of commercial porous polymer films with the ionic liquid 1-n-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide. The ionic liquid has been characterized, and the membranes have been tested to determine performance in the selective separation of CO2 from He. Experiments were conducted in a constant pressure system, and pure gas permeability/selectivity data are reported. Membranes prepared with polysulfone supports have been found to be stable to 125 °C. The CO2 permeability of the membranes increases from 744 to 1200 barrer as the temperature increases from 37 to 125 °C. The CO2/He selectivity decreased from 8.7 to 3.1 over the same temperature range.