• Korean Membrane Journal
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.36-42
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• 2006

We have prepared new water-swollen chitosan-$Ag^+$ complex membranes and studied their permeation and separation behavior for propylene and propane gases. The $Ag^+$ containing chitosan complex membranes were prepared from chitosan and $AgNO_3$ aqueous solution. The $AgNO_3$ and water content in the membrane were controlled by adjusting $AgNO_3$ concentration of casting solution. The permeation properties of propylene and propane were investigated as a function of $AgNO_3$ concentration, and various operation conditions. High permeability of above 17 barrer and high selectivity of above 170 could be obtained with the membranes prepared from 3 M $AgNO_3$ aqueous solution. Periodic regeneration test confirmed these membranes could be very useful for the separation of propylene/propane and other olefin/paraffin separation.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.351-360
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• 2018

In this study, propylene/propane separation mechanism through NaY zeolite membrane was investigated. As permeation temperature increased, both propylene and propane permeances increased, saturated and decreased again, and a maximum selectivity was shown at around 50 to $60^{\circ}C$. Propane permeance in mixed gas experiment was much smaller than that in single gas experiment, and propylene/propane mixed gas selectivity was much larger than single gas permselectivity. As permeation time increased in transient permeation experiment, propylene permeance initially increased and saturated, while propane permeance decreased and saturated. All the experimental results announced that propylene/propane separation through NaY zeolite membrane was from preferentially adsorbed propylene molecules. The adsorbed propylene molecules efficiently prevented propane molecules from permeating through the membrane, and sufae diffused through the membrane. NaY zeolite capillary membrane prepared in the present study showed a high mixed gas selectivity of 12 and high propylene permeance of 497 GPU for a propylene/propane (89 : 11) mixture at $50^{\circ}C$ and 4 bar. Therefore, it was concluded that NaY zeolite membrane is one of promising membrane materials for propylene/propane separation due to the low cost and high separation performance.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.343-347
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• 2007

Novel composite membranes, which delivered high separation performance for propylene/propane mixtures, were developed by coating inert poly(ethylene-co-propylene) rubber (EPR) onto a porous polyester substrate, followed by the physical distribution of $AgBF_4$. Scanning electron microscopy-wavelength dispersive spectrometer (SEM-WDS) revealed that silver salts were uniformly distributed in the EPR layer. The physical dispersion of the silver salts in the inert polymer matrix, without specific interaction, was characterized by FT-IR and FT-Raman spectroscopy. The high separation performance was presumed to stem from the in-situ dissolution of crystalline silver ionic aggregates into free silver ions, which acted as an active propylene carrier within a propylene environment, leading to facilitated propylene transport through the membranes. The membranes were functional at all silver loading levels, exhibiting an unusually low threshold carrier concentration (less than 0.06 of silver weight fraction). The separation properties of these membranes, i.e. the mixed gas selectivity of propylene/propane ${\sim}55$ and mixed gas permeance ${\sim}7$ GPU, were stable for several days.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.484-491
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• 2019

An efficient propylene/propane separation technology is needed to obtain high-purity propylene, which is a raw material for polypropylene synthesis. Since conventional cryogenic distillation is an energy-intensive process due to the similar physicochemical properties of propylene and propane, adsorptive separation has gained considerable interest. In this study, we have computationally investigated the changes in adsorption separation performances by arbitrarily controlling the adsorption strength of open metal sites in two different types of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). Through the evaluation of adsorptive separation performances in terms of working capacity, selectivity, and Adsorption Figure of Merit (AFM), we have suggested proper density and strength of adsorption sites as well as appropriate temperature condition to obtain optimal propylene/propane adsorptive separation performances.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.164-169
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• 2008

In this study, the facilitated transport membranes, poly (ether ether)ketone (SPEEK)-Ag salts layers on top of polycarbonate supports membrane, were prepared and tested for the separation of propylene/propane. SPEEK was synthesised using PEEK and $H_2SO_4$. Experiments were porformed at room temperature and feed pressures up to 30 psig. The SPEEK-Ag salt membranes showed good selectivity for propane over propylene. With increasing the concentration of SPEEK in MeOH, 5~20 wt%, the thickness of SPEEK membrane on the polycarbonate increased. The selectivity and permeance of SPEKK-Ag membrane for propylene/propane were changed by membrane thickness and concentration of Ag salts.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.409-415
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• 2014

This study is aimed to separate propylene and propane using membrane process instead of NCC(Naphtha Cracking Center) $C_3$ splitter. Membrane process is a low energy consumption and eco-friendly process while $C_3$ splitter requires high energy consumption in petrochemical processes. In this study, high performance facilitated transport membrane (FTM) is used for propylene/propane separation. FTM module was prepared on top of porous polyetherimide hollow fiber using PVP/$AgBF_4$/TCNQ. We developed simulation program predicting the membrane separation properties under operation conditions. Separation properties of FTM module for propylene and propane were obtained from the simulation program based on the pure gas permeation data. Based on these results, it is predicted that an one-stage membrane process provides 99.5% of propylene at permeate side from a binary gas mixture of 95/5 vol% $C_3H_6$ / vol% $C_3H_8$ supplied as a feed gas.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.67-79
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• 2019

High purity propylene (propene) is an octane-enhancing chemical and also feedstock to industrially important chemicals. Purification of propylene from propane mixture is technologically and financially challenging because of their close boiling points. ZIF-8 membrane has been increasingly researched due to its great potential to separate propylene from propane effectively by molecular sieving. The increasing interest in ZIF-8 membranes lies in the so called "gate opening" effect. The gate opening effect enlarges the membrane pores and preferentially allows propylene to permeate through the membrane pores, while retaining the larger and heavier propane molecules in the feed stream in order to effect high propylene separation from propylene/propane mixture. In this paper, the widely accepted methods of ZIF-8 membrane preparation and parameters affecting propylene permeation and selectivity in ZIF-8 membrane are identified and reviewed.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.432-443
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• 2018

In this study, propylene/propane separation behavior of Na-type faujasite zeolite membranes is predicted by observing gravimetric adsorptions of propylene and propane on zeolite 13X. The gravimetric adsorptions were measured by using a magnetic suspension balance (MSB) at temperatures of 323, 343, 363 K and a pressure range of 0.02-1 bar. The pressure was increased at 0.1 bar intervals. As adsorption temperature increased, adsorptions of propylene and propane decreased and propylene/propane adsorption selectivity increased. Also, the diffusion coefficients of propylene and propane were increased as the adsorption temperature increased, following the Arrhenius equation. The maximum propylene/propane diffusion selectivity was 0.9753 at 323 K. The perm-selectivity was calculated from the adsorption data of zeolite 13X and compared with the perm-selectivity measured in the single gas permeation experiment for the Na-type faujasite zeolite membrane. The maximum values for the calculated and measured perm-selectivities were observed at a temperature of 323 K. It could be concluded that the prediction of propylene/propane separation of surface diffusion-based membrane by using gravimetric adsorption data is reasonable. Therefore, it is expected that this prediction method can be applied to the screening of adsorption-based microporous membrane for propylene/propane separation.

• Clean Technology
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• v.13 no.1 s.36
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• pp.79-84
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• 2007

Separation of ethylene from ethane and propylene from propane have been conducted using facilitated olefin transport membrane with SPEEK-Ag (Ag substituted sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone)). SPEEK was prepared by the sulfonation of PEEK using cone. $H_2SO_4$ and the reaction time affected the degree of sulfonation (DS) of the resulting SPEEK. SPEEK-Ag composite membrane was formed by soaking SPEEK in the polyester support into the Ag salt solution. With increasing the concentration of SPEEK in MeOH, the thickness of SPEEK on the polyester increased. The selectivity and the flux of SPEEK-Ag membrane for the separation of ethylene/ethane and propylene/propane were changed by the thickness of SPEEK layer on the top of polyester support. The anion of silver salt also affects the membrane performance.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.450-459
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• 2020

Membrane-based separations have the potential to reduce energy consumption and environmental impact associated with conventional processes. However, many researches have been done to develop new membrane materials with greater selectivity and permeability. Here, we report highly selective membranes by introducing bulky ethyl substituents into the polyimide. The ethyl group in the ortho position to the imide nitrogen interferes the chain packing and increases chain stiffness and the distance between the polymer chains. The polyimide membranes were synthesized from various aromatic dianhydrides and 4,4'-methylenebis(2,6-diethylaniline) (MDEA). The synthesized membranes with increased gas diffusion length due to bulky substituents showed improved propylene/propane (C3H6/C3H8) selectivity. Single gas permeation showed high C3H6/C3H8 selectivity of 14.5, and C3H6 permeability of 7.0 barrer was found in MDEA-polyimide. Mixed-gas permeation results also demonstrate that MDEA-polyimide can achieve high selectivity in mixed-gas environment. Furthermore, this approach could significantly increase the feasibility of economic propylene separation compared to conventional polymer materials.