Physical aging, high temperature and water vapor permeation studies of UV-rearranged PIM-1 membranes for advanced hydrogen purification and production

Ultraviolet (UV)-rearranged PIM-1 membranes have been shown to exhibit superior gas separation performance for H2/CO2 separation. The long-term aging studies of up to 100 days were investigated and revealed that the UV-rearranged PIM-1 membranes are much more stable than the original PIM-1 membrane. By positron annihilation lifetime (PAL) analyses, a constant decrease of o-Ps lifetime during physical aging of all membranes was observed, while o-Ps intensity changed sparingly. Compared to pure gas tests, the UV-irradiated PIM-1 membrane shows considerably enhanced separation performance in mixed gas tests with and without CO under high temperatures. Although the UV-rearranged PIM-1 membranes reveal deteriorating gas separation performance under humid feed conditions due to the effect of water vapor induced plasticization, the overall gas separation performance still outperforms most literature data. The successful validation of the separation performance for the UV-rearranged PIM-1 membranes under similar industrial testing conditions may possibly suggest the great potential of this type of membrane for the purification and production of industrial hydrogen.