Substrate-Supported Membrane for Gas Purification
Official patent title
Substrate supported gas separation membrane
Arabic title: غشاء لفصل الغازات مدعوم بركيزة
Invention
Invention
Problem
Gas-separation membranes often face a permeability–selectivity tradeoff and may lose performance through chemical degradation, limiting efficient purification of mixed gas streams.
Why it matters
More controllable membrane layers could support lower-complexity separation of CO2, H2S, hydrogen, methane, nitrogen, or carbon monoxide in industrial processing.
Approach
The disclosed membrane places a porous diselenide-containing polyimide layer on a porous substrate and uses differential permeation and optional adsorption to enrich one gas from a mixture.
Who may benefit
Potential beneficiaries include industrial-gas companies, membrane-system developers, natural-gas and hydrogen researchers, carbon-management teams, and specialty-polymer manufacturers.
Potential value
The invention combines a chemically defined diselenide polyimide with structural support from silica, glass, metal, resin, or ceramic substrates and a staged casting process.
Background
Background
Industrial gas purification can use sorbents, cryogenic distillation, or membranes. Sorbent systems may require regeneration, and cryogenic separation is energy intensive, especially when the target gas is dilute. Membranes can simplify the process but must manage an inverse relationship between permeability and selectivity while maintaining chemical and thermal stability. Polyimides are attractive because their molecular structure can be modified. The patent introduces alternating units derived from 4,4′-diselanediyldianiline and ethylenediaminetetraacetic dianhydride and supports the resulting porous layer on a second porous material.
Technology overview
Technology overview
The polyimide is prepared from 4,4′-diselanediyldianiline and ethylenediaminetetraacetic dianhydride at a 1:1 molar ratio through a poly(amic acid) intermediate heated at 170–200 °C for 8–10 hours. A 10–30 wt.% casting solution is deposited on silica, glass, metal, polymeric-resin, or ceramic support. Progressive heating uses 50–70 °C for 10–30 hours, 90–110 °C for 4–8 hours, and 140–160 °C for 10–30 hours. The membrane then permeates and optionally adsorbs selected gases from a mixture.
Potential applications
Potential applications
- Potential use in CO2 or H2S removal from mixed industrial gases.
- Potential use in hydrogen, nitrogen, methane, or carbon-monoxide separation research.
- Potential use in supported membrane modules for process-gas purification.
- Potential use as a platform for studying permeability–selectivity tradeoffs.
Evidence-supported advantages
Evidence-supported advantages
- Combines a selective polymer layer with mechanical support from a porous substrate.
- Offers five claimed substrate-material categories for integration studies.
- Defines monomer ratio, reaction time, casting concentration, and staged heating.
- Covers separation by permeation together with optional gas adsorption.
Development stage
Development stage
Patent publication describing polymer and supported-membrane fabrication; commercialization and independent mixed-gas separation validation were not established.
Commercial opportunity
Commercial opportunity
The supported architecture may be relevant to membrane-module, industrial-gas, or carbon-management partners. Commercial diligence should measure mixed-gas selectivity and flux, pressure and temperature durability, contaminant tolerance, long-term aging, selenium and solvent handling, layer adhesion, defect control, module sealing, regeneration, and scalable coating consistency.
Patent classifications
Patent classifications
WIPO IPC
- B01D71/64Separation
- B01D53/22Separation
CPC
- B01D53/228Separation
- B01D67/0011Separation
- B01D67/0013Separation
- B01D71/64Separation
- C08G73/1057Macromolecular compounds obtained otherwise than by reactions involving only carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds
- C08G73/1078Macromolecular compounds obtained otherwise than by reactions involving only carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds
- C08G73/1085Macromolecular compounds obtained otherwise than by reactions involving only carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds
- C08J5/18Working-up; general compounding processes; after-treatment of macromolecular compounds
- B01D2053/221Separation
- B01D2323/081Separation
- C08J2379/08Working-up; general compounding processes; after-treatment of macromolecular compounds
Inventors
Inventors
- First inventorTarek Ahmed Yousef
- InventorSaad Shaaban
Keywords
Keywords
- gas-separation membrane
- polyimide
- diselenide
- porous substrate
- permeation
- CO2
- H2S
- gas purification
Patent document and drawings
Patent document and drawings
The patent publication is mapped to this record. Patent drawings remain within that publication; no separately cleared public media package has been supplied.