(699h) Investigation of Transport and Mechanical Properties of Hollow Fibers Containing Ionic Liquids for Pre-Combustion CO2 Capture

Currently available techniques for CO₂ separation from flue or fuel gas cannot economically capture CO₂ for sequestration.  Membranes offer several advantages in CO₂ separation such as simple operation, low water consumption, and in some cases higher energy efficiency.  However, traditional polymer membranes are limited by the separation characteristics of the polymer and often suffer from low permeability and selectivity.  Several research groups have attempted to overcome these limitations by using supported ionic liquid membranes (SILMs) in which an ionic liquid (IL) is suspended within the pores of a membrane support and serves as the active gas separation component of the membrane.  For industrial applications, hollow fibers are preferred over flat membranes due to their smaller footprint, ease of high efficiency module design and low fabrication cost. In an attempt to investigate and address these issues, polymeric hollow fiber-based ionic liquid membranes were fabricated.  Matrimid^® and [hmim][Tf₂N] (1-hexyl-3-methylimidalzolium bis(trifluoromethyl sulfonyl) imide) were selected as the polymeric and ionic liquid materials, and the fibers were fabricated via nonsolvent-induced phase separation/extraction, employing a single layer spinneret extrusion system. The system takes advantage of the fiber morphology to enable more efficient mass transfer than traditional membranes geometries.  CO₂ and H₂ transport properties will be reported for the Matrimid hollow fibers from 37 to 150 ^oC.  Also, several mechanical properties such as tensile strength, modulus, and glass transition temperature have been measured for the fiber using dynamic mechanical analysis.