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Development of High Performance Pyrolized Polyimide-based Carbon Molecular Sieves for Enhanced Selectivity of
Tiara Puspasari1,2, Yingge Wang2, Bader Ghanem2
1Chemical Engineering Program, Physical Science and Engineering Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.
Angewandte Chemie (International Ed. in English)
|October 21, 2025
Summary
New carbon molecular sieve (CMS) membranes offer superior energy efficiency for propylene/propane separation. These advanced membranes achieve high selectivity, overcoming limitations of current industrial processes.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Chemical Engineering
- Separation Technology
Background:
- Propylene/propane separation is energy-intensive, with distillation being a bottleneck.
- Existing membrane technologies lack the necessary selectivity for industrial propylene/propane separation.
- A small molecular size difference (0.13Å) necessitates membranes with exceptional sieving capabilities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop highly selective carbon molecular sieve (CMS) membranes for efficient propylene/propane separation.
- To investigate the potential of triptycene-based polyimide precursors for advanced membrane fabrication.
- To evaluate the performance and stability of CMS membranes under mixed-gas conditions.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of CMS membranes using a triptycene-based polyimide precursor (6FDA-DAT1).
- Controlled high-temperature pyrolysis to tune membrane microstructure.
- Mixed-gas permeation testing to assess propylene/propane separation performance.
Main Results:
- A CMS membrane pyrolyzed at 800 °C for 2 hours showed 56 Barrer propylene permeability and 66 C3H6/C3H8 selectivity.
- After 147 days of aging, selectivity increased to an unprecedented 152.
- Physical aging selectively tightened the CMS microstructure, enhancing separation performance.
Conclusions:
- Triptycene-based CMS membranes demonstrate significant potential for energy-efficient propylene/propane separation.
- The developed CMS materials exhibit unmatched selectivity, surpassing current industrial standards.
- Membrane aging can be leveraged to further improve separation performance in CMS materials.
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