Preparation And Charaterization Of Gas Separation And Purification Membranes

The development of gas membranes is one of the most active research areas in many laboratories worldwide. Several universities have established research centers and programs on membrane technology which have found potential applications in the chemical, petroleum, food and many other industries. The key for new applications of membranes in challenging and harsh environments is the development of new tough, high performance materials. The modular nature of membrane operations is intrinsically fit for process intensification, and this versatility might be a decisive factor to impose membrane processes in most gas separation fields, in a similar way as today membranes represent the main technology for water treatment. Hydrogen recovery from refinery streams is an emerging field for membrane gas separation in the petrochemical industry; it is a key approach to meet the increased demand of hydrogen (for hydrotreating, hydrocracking, or hydrodesulphurization processes) owing to new environmental regulations. In order to compete with cryogenic distillation, absorption, and pressure swing adsorption on the basis of overall economics, safety, and environmental and technical aspects new membrane materials able to withstand more demanding process conditions of temperature, pressure, and aggressive media have to be found. In this research study we will target high temperature gas separation membranes preparation and characterization using porous metal oxide (ceramic) membrane tubes. These are a promising membrane material due to their unique thermal, structural and chemical stability. The proposed research project will incorporate the use of non-conventional materials such as clay, which is available in Oman, cheap and effective in providing the desired membrane characteristics for producing high purity hydrogen from a wide variety of gas mixtures. In this regard, different types of clays can be regarded as one of the competing materials that have not been studied for the preparation of membrane support and/or composite membranes. Hence, the scope of this research is to investigate suitable preparation methods of thermal and chemically stable membranes using different inorganic materials, as well as the preparation of adequate low cost supports that can provide high performance in gas separation processes under elevated pressure and temperature conditions. Finally, the application of the prepared membranes in the separation of hydrogen from different gas mixtures will be investigated.