Incorporating PIM-1 as organic filler to improve gas transport properties of Ultem polyetherimide flat sheet membranes and hollow fibers

Ultem/PIM-1 blend flat films were fabricated and their physiochemical and gas transport properties were studied. The permeability of the membranes was tested for pure gases including He, N₂, O₂, CH₄, CO₂, and mixed gases, e.g., CO₂/CH₄ and CO₂/N₂. The gas permeability improved significantly when adding only 5 or 10 wt% PIM-1 into Ultem without much sacrifices of the gas pair selectivity, where the CO₂ permeability increased 47 and 167%, respectively. At higher PIM-1 loadings (> 90 wt%), the permeability followed the trend of the Maxwell prediction because of the good dispersion of Ultem inside PIM -1. The incorporation of 5 wt % PIM-1 inside the outer layer resulted in a 50% increment in the gas permeance, and > 100% increment by adding 15 wt% PIM-1. The gas pair selectivity for both O₂/N₂ and CO₂/CH₄ remained above 80% for blends with PIM-1 ≤ 15 wt %. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the International Gas Union Research Conference (IGRC 2014) (Copenhagen, Denmark 9/17-19/2014).