(373w) Application of 26-Factorial Design Optimization for PVA Based Membrane Synthesis for CO2/N2 and CO2/CH4 Separation

The consumption of hydrocarbons and therefore the rise in global temperatures is predicted to continue increasing with the increase in globalization and the industrialization of third world countries. Therefore, separation of carbon dioxide (CO₂), the main greenhouse gas causing global warming, is of great interest. Some example separation applications are: CO₂ separation from biogas so that it can be upgraded as a renewable source of natural gas, as well as CO₂ separation from other flue gases. This research focuses on the separation of CO₂ from methane (CH₄) and nitrogen (N₂) gases using membranes. Amine-based Poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) polymeric membranes that had shown good potential for gas separation results were adapted for use in this research. The adapted membrane was then optimized using a 2⁶ factorial design to optimize the membranes’ performance with respect to CO₂/N₂ and CO₂/CH₄ selectivity values when tested at near atmospheric conditions. It was established that the highest selectivity, 2.45 was achieved with the CO₂/CH₄ pair where the combination of PVA, formaldehyde and Poly (allylamine hydroxide) most positively affected CO₂ selectivity over CH₄. This was a 145% increase from the base PVA membrane, which had a CO₂/CH₄ selectivity of 1.00. The most optimized CO₂/N­₂ selectivity obtained was lower at a maximum selectivity of 2.22 with PVA being the sole component that most positively affected CO₂ selectivity over N₂. Furthermore, the maximum permeability value was achieved by CO₂ at 521,935 Barrers followed by N₂ and CH₄ at 521,880 Barrers and 512,708 Barrers, respectively.