Desalination, Vol.240, No.1-3, 298-300, 2009
High molecular fixed-site-carrier PVAm membrane for CO2 capture
Fixed-site-carrier (FSC) membranes for CO2 capture were prepared and investigated using commercial high molecular weight polyvinyl amine (PVAm) casted on two polysulfone (PSf) supports with different molecular weight cut-off (20,000 and 50,000). Using humidified premixed gas (10 mol% CO2, 90 mol% N-2), a permeance of 0.28 m(3) STP/m(2) bar h and selectivity of 197 were obtained for a 1.2-mu m membrane casted on 50,000 MWCO PSf at 2-bar feed pressure. For similar CO2/N-2 selectivity values, the PVAm membrane presents a CO2 permeance at least one order of magnitude higher than other reported FSC membranes. The membranes showed stable performance during 45 days of intensive testing under the operating conditions.