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Updated: Feb 8, 2026

Hydrogen Production and Utilization in a Membrane Reactor
Published on: March 10, 2023
Preparation of polyetherimide membrane from non-toxic solvents for the separation of hydrogen from methane
Yousef Alqaheem1, Abdulaziz Alomair2, Abdulwahab Alhendi2
1Petroleum Research Center, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Ahmadi, Kuwait. yqaheem@kisr.edu.kw.
Abstract:
Polymeric membranes are usually prepared from solvents like n-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) because of the strong dissolving power and high boiling point. Yet, the solvent is costly, toxic and has environmental issues. In this work, nontoxic solvents such as methyl L-lactate, ethyl lactate, propylene carbonate, tributyl o-acetylcitrate, tributyl citrate, triethyl phosphate, and γ-butyrolactone (GBL) were introduced during membrane preparation. It was found that all the solvents were unable to dissolve polyetherimide except GBL. The membranes made by GBL and NMP were evaluated for gas separation, and they have almost similar hydrogen-to-methane selectivity, but, hydrogen permeance was better in NMP membranes.
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