Uop Lcc

Honeywell International Inc.

Hoechst Celanese Corporation

Jeffrey J Chiou

Chunqing Liu

Stephen T Wilson

Stephen Frederic Yates

Amber Arzadon

Santi Kulprathipanja

Raisa Minkov

Travis C Bowen

Rehan Zaki

Syed A Faheem

Tihomir G Tonev

Matthew C McGuirl

Jidapa Soontraratpong

The present invention discloses a new type of polyimide membranes including hollow fiber and flat sheet membranes with high permeances for air separations and a method of making these membranes. The new polyimide hollow fiber membranes have Opermeance higher than 300 GPU and O/Nselectivity higher than 3 at 60&#xb0; C. under 308 kPa for O/Nseparation. The new polyimide hollow fiber membranes also have COpermeance higher than 1000 GPU and single-gas selectivity for CO/CHhigher than 20 at 50&#xb0; C. under 791 kPa for CO/CHseparation.

High permeance polyimide membranes for air separation

A thin film composite membrane comprises a core layer and a sheath UV-crosslinked polymer layer. The thin film composite membrane is produced by the co-extrusion of two polymer solutions. The core layer and the sheath layer can be separately optimized. The sheath layer may be UV-crosslinked to provide stability and selectivity at the desired operating temperature of the composite membrane.

Photo-crosslinked gas selective membranes as part of thin film composite hollow fiber membranes

A gas separation membrane comprises a blend of polyethersulfone (PES) and aromatic polyimide polymers that may comprise a plurality of first repeating units of formula (I), wherein X, Xand Xare herein defined.

Thin film gas separation membranes

The present invention is for novel high performance cross-linkable and cross-linked mixed matrix membranes and the use of such membranes for separations such as for CO/CH, H/CHand propylene/propane separations. More specifically, the invention involves the preparation of cross-linkable and cross-linked mixed matrix membranes (MMMs). The cross-linkable MMMs were prepared by incorporating microporous molecular sieves or soluble high surface area microporous polymers (PIMs) as dispersed microporous fillers into a continuous cross-linkable polymer matrix. The cross-linked MMMs were prepared by UV-cross-linking the cross-linkable MMMs containing cross-linkable polymer matrix such as BP-55 polyimide. Pure gas permeation test results demonstrated that both types of MMMs exhibited higher performance for CO/CHand H/CHseparations than those of the corresponding cross-linkable and cross-linked pure polymer matrices.

Cross-linkable and cross-linked mixed matrix membranes and methods of making the same

An improved mixed matrix membrane for the separation of gases comprises a nitrogen containing compound such as an amine, silicone rubber and activated carbon on a porous support. The membrane may also comprise a carbonate such as potassium carbonate and a plasticizer such as polyethylene glycol. Membranes of this design may be used in processing natural gas or other gases. The gases which may be separated by the membrane include mixtures of methane and carbon dioxide, mixtures of oxygen and nitrogen, and mixtures of carbon dioxide and nitrogen.

Mixed matrix membrane for gas separation

The invention relates to a method of making an epoxysilicone coated membrane by coating a porous asymmetric membrane layer with a UV-curable controlled release epoxysilicone coating. A mixture of the epoxysilicone resin and an onium photocatalyst are applied to the porous asymmetric membrane layer in a dilute non-polar solution and cured by UV or electron beam radiation to produce a dry epoxysilicone coated membrane. The porous asymmetric membrane layer is comprised of an asymmetric cellulosic membrane or an asymmetric polymer membrane with a low selectivity. The epoxysilicone coating was found to provide the asymmetric membrane layer with improved selectivity which extends to separation temperatures below 70&deg; C. and provides stable flux rates. Membranes produced in this manner are useful for the separation of gases such as carbon dioxide from natural gas.

Epoxysilicone coated membranes

This invention provides a composite gas separation membrane comprising: (a) a porous polyacrylonitrile structural support material having a polyacrylonitrile surface; (b) a gutter layer coating comprising a crosslinked polar phenyl-containing-organopolysiloxane material on the polyacrylonitrile surface of the structural support material, leaving an uncoated gutter layer surface; and (c) an ultrathin 6FDA type polyimide selective membrane layer coating on the uncoated gutter layer surface. In preferred embodiments, the phenyl-containing-organopolysiloxane material additionally comprises a silica-sol. Processes for making the composite gas separation membrane and for using the membrane to carry out gas separations are also provided.

Growing community of inventors

Irvine, CA, United States of America

Jeffrey J Chiou