Premium
Chemical stability of polyimide membranes at temperatures near T g
Author(s) -
Rezac Mary E.,
Koros William J.,
Miller Stephen J.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.1995.070580118
Subject(s) - polyimide , membrane , hydrogen sulfide , hydrogen , chemical stability , chemical engineering , petrochemical , ammonia , gas separation , polymer , sulfur , hydrocarbon , materials science , chemistry , polymer chemistry , organic chemistry , layer (electronics) , biochemistry , engineering
The success of polymeric membranes for use in high temperature gas separation applications relies, in part, on the chemical stability of these materials in separation environment. This paper details experimental evaluation of the stability of the membranes prepared using a polyimide as the selective separating layer when exposed to butane/butene/hydrogen mixtures at temperatures near the glass transition temperature of the polymer, 310°C. Further, the effects of small concentrations of sulfur and ammonia compounds in the feed mixture were investigated, as was the influence of a simulated air leak. The gas transport rates and selectivities were unchanged when testing in the hydrocarbon/hydrogen environment for over 30 days. Further, no changes in transport properties were observed when hydrogen sulfide or ammonia was added to the feed mixture. However, degradation due to oxygen exposure was observed. The chemical stability of the polyimide layer appears to be sufficient to be utilized for the separation of high temperature petrochemical streams. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.