Gas separation properties of ZIF-8/6FDA-durene diamine mixed matrix membrane

• A 6FDA-durene diamine was successfully synthesized in the current work.
• The pure 6FDA had a permeability of 1468 Barrer for CO2.
• The permeability increased to 2185 Barrer for CO2 with the addition of 30% ZIF-8.
• A slight loss in selectivity for the gas pairs CO2–N2 and CO2–CH4 was observed in the mixed matrix membranes with ZIF-8.

Mixed matrix membranes of ZIF-8 as inorganic filler in polymer matrix of synthesized 6FDA-durene diamine was developed in this work. Pure gas permeation for the gases CO2, CH4, N2, and O2 and mixed gas of CO2/N2 was carried out at 2 and 6 bar for single gas and 2.6 bar for mixed gas using the mixed matrix membrane of ZIF-8/6FDA-durene diamine in different inorganic filler loading. The homogenous dispersion of ZIF-8 particles in polymer confirmed by SEM result in dramatic increase in gas permeability for all tested gases and significant increase in CO2 permeability from 1468 Barrer to 2185 Barrer corresponding to pure polymer membrane and 30 wt% loaded ZIF-8 mixed matrix membrane at 2 bar feed gas pressure, respectively. However a loss in both CO2/N2 and CO2/CH4 selectivity was observed. Incorporation of inorganic fillers in membrane results in increment of decomposition temperature of mixed matrix membranes while no significant change in Tg was observed.