Open AccessLatest Development on Membrane Fabrication for Natural Gas Purification: A Review
Author(s) -
Dzeti Farhah Mohshim,
Hilmi Mukhtar,
Zakaria Man,
Rizwan Nasir
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.244
H-Index - 20
eISSN - 2314-4912
pISSN - 2314-4904
DOI - 10.1155/2013/101746
Subject(s) - membrane , gas separation , fabrication , natural gas , membrane technology , polymeric membrane , nanotechnology , process engineering , materials science , polymer , biochemical engineering , chemical engineering , chemistry , engineering , organic chemistry , composite material , medicine , biochemistry , alternative medicine , pathology
In the last few decades, membrane technology has been a great attention for gas separation technology especially for natural gas sweetening. The intrinsic character of membranes makes them fit for process escalation, and this versatility could be the significant factor to induce membrane technology in most gas separation areas. Membranes were synthesized with various materials which depended on the applications. The fabrication of polymeric membrane was one of the fastest growing fields of membrane technology. However, polymeric membranes could not meet the separation performances required especially in high operating pressure due to deficiencies problem. The chemistry and structure of support materials like inorganic membranes were also one of the focus areas when inorganic membranes showed some positive results towards gas separation. However, the materials are somewhat lacking to meet the separation performance requirement. Mixed matrix membrane (MMM) which is comprising polymeric and inorganic membranes presents an interesting approach for enhancing the separation performance. Nevertheless, MMM is yet to be commercialized as the material combinations are still in the research stage. This paper highlights the potential promising areas of research in gas separation by taking into account the material selections and the addition of a third component for conventional MMM