(349d) Design of High-Performance Gas Separation Membranes: From Research to Translation and Commercialization

Membrane-based gas separation systems were first introduced in the early 1980s for hydrogen recovery with polydimethylsiloxane-coated polysulfone hollow fibers and carbon dioxide removal from natural gas using cellulose acetate flat-sheet membranes. Since then the gas separation application spectrum has continuously grown by applying glassy polymer membranes (e.g., tetra-bromopolycarbonate, polyimides, perfluorinated polymers etc.) for nitrogen production and dehydration of air, CO₂ removal from biogas etc. Reverse-selective rubbery silicone-based thin-film composite membranes were introduced for the recovery of organic vapors such as olefins from nitrogen-containing off gases in the petrochemical industry in the mid 1990s. Currently, the annual membrane gas separation business has been estimated to be in the range of 1 – 1.5 billion USD.

Although hundreds of advanced membrane materials with significantly improved permeability and selectivity have been developed over the past three decades for a wide variety of industrial applications, only very few have been translated into high-performance membranes with properties sufficiently suitable for scale up and commercial deployment. In fact, most industrially successful gas separation membranes are still made from commercial polymers with materials performance below the 1991 Robeson performance ‘upper bounds’. The limitations of newly developed membrane materials for gas separation applications are often linked to (i) materials scale up, (ii) poor processability, (iii) insufficient mechanical properties, (iv) poor long-term stability, e.g., physical aging, (v) materials cost and others. This presentation will highlight some examples that overcame these bottlenecks and strategies to more efficiently translate and commercialize academic materials research in necessary collaboration with industrial membrane producers.