Material and Process Tests of Heterogeneous Membranes Containing ZIF-8, SiO₂ and POSS-Ph

Heterogeneous membranes made of a polymer matrix and containing nano-metric fillers in their structure may present improved physicochemical and process properties compared to homogeneous membranes made only of polymer materials. Membranes made of a PEBAX^®2533 block copolymer were tested with fillers such as ZIF-8, SiO₂ and POSS-Ph being dosed to them. The material analysis and process tests indicate that these nanomaterials can be used as fillers for heterogeneous membranes. Chemometric analyses determined the influence of individual fillers on selected physicochemical properties of the materials which were used to produce the membranes. For specific concentrations of these fillers, improvement in the permeability and selectivity of the membranes, or at least in one of these parameters, was achieved. The greatest increase in permeability against the homogeneous membrane was obtained for membranes containing 10 wt% ZIF-8 (for CO₂, an increase of 2.07 times; for CH₄, 2.36 times; for N₂, 3.08 times). In turn, the greatest increase in selectivity was obtained for the CO₂/CH₄ mixture for the membrane containing 5 wt% SiO₂ (1.15 times), and for the CO₂/N₂ mixture for the membrane containing 2 wt% POSS-Ph (1.21 times).