Preparation and characterization of novel thin-film nanocomposite and asymmetric nanofiltration membranes

In this project, 2 commonly used strategies for the improvement of membranes for gas separation will be combined, namely the development of so-called mixed matrix membranes and the application of polymers with intrinsic microporosity. These strategies have separately already proven to be very promising for the improvement of membrane performance for several key separations such as CO2/CH4 (natural gas or biogas upgrading) or CO2/N2 (for CO2 sequestration), but their combination is still relatively unexplored. In addition, the effect of gas impurities on the membrane performance will be studied. These effects have already been studied for purely polymeric membranes, but not yet for mixed matrix membranes. It is believed that this is one of the last big hurdles that hampers the industrial application of mixed matrix membranes.status: publishe