Gamma Irradiation of Cellulose Acetate-Polyethylene Glycol 400 Composite Membrane and Its Performance Test for Gas Separation

Abstract

Gas separation processes through membrane permeation have attracted the attention of researchers recently due to their promising applications. In this study, we modified the cellulose acetate (CA) membrane to improve the membrane performance of CO2/CH4 gas separation. The CA membrane was modified by adding polyethylene glycol (PEG) 400 as the carrier and N, N’- methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) as the cross-linking agent. Gamma-ray from cobalt 60 was used as a reaction initiator with variation in irradiation doses. The membrane characterization tests were conducted using scanning electron micrograph (SEM), Fourier transforms infrared (FTIR), and instron tensile strength tester. The permeability and selectivity of the membranes were tested against the single gases CO2 and CH4. The SEM analysis showed the morphology change in the membrane surface by gamma irradiation and a crosslinking agent. The spectra of FTIR showed a change in peak intensity on several polymer functional groups in the presence of gamma-ray irradiation. The tensile strength test showed that membranes with MBA have a higher mechanical strength than those without MBA. Based on the membrane permeability and selectivity tests, CO2 gas permeability was affected by pressure. The ideal selectivity of CO2/CH4 shows that the irradiated membrane has a higher selectivity than that of the non-irradiated membrane