(478c) Development of 3D-Printed Polymer-Zeolite Composite Monoliths for Gas Separation

Organic-inorganic materials have emerged as promising candidates for use in various gas separation processes due to the beneficial synergistic effect of both constituents. Herein, we report a novel and facile approach for fabrication of composite monoliths consisting of Torlon polymer and 13X and 5A zeolites via 3D printing technique for the removal of CO₂ from flue gas. The physical and structural properties of 3D-printed composite monoliths were systematically evaluated and compared with their pristine powders. By the incorporation of ~31 wt% zeolite particles into the polymer matrix and the addition of amine moieties into the polymer dope composite, the obtained monoliths displayed CO₂ capture capacity proportional to the zeolite loading. Most importantly, both 3D-printed Torlon-zeolite monoliths exhibited high compressive strengths of approximately 210 MPa, which was significantly higher than that of 3D-printed zeolite monoliths developed in our previous work. These results demonstrate the superiority of polymer-zeolite composite monoliths, with existing undamaged zeolite crystals, formulated by 3D printing technique as robust structures with outstanding mechanical integrity and comparable adsorption capacity for various adsorption-based gas separation processes. The printing strategy reported herein can be easily extended to other organic-inorganic composite materials with different polymers and inorganic particles with various compositional ratios.