Solution Processable Mixed Matrix Membranes Derived From Porous Liquids for Bio-Fuel Separation

Abstract

Enegy demand is increasing day by day and our main dependence is on fossil fuels which are depleting. Biofuels i.e., butanol and ethanol have emerged as potential alternatives of fossil fuels. However, large scale production of biofuels is limited by several factors including high cost for separation. This high cost for separation is due to the low concentration of biofuels in fermantation broths and formation of azeotrpes. As a result the conventional technologies like distillation become expensive and impractical. Pervaportion is an emerging process for separation of biofuels. This is a membrane based process in which separation is achieved through interaction of penetrant molecules with membrane. Recently, mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) were used for the separation of bioethanol and have shown good results. However, the performance of MMMs were limited by agglomeration of particles due to uneven distribution of nanoparticles and low MOF loadings. This thesis mainly focused on the fabrication of Porous liquid (PL) based Mixed Matrix Membrane (MMM) to enhance the separation performance for butanol/water mixture. In this work, a hydrophobic filler ZIF-8 was selected due to high hydrophobic nature and further functionlized in porous liquid. ZIF-8-PL dense mixed matrix membranes with different loadings of PL are synthesized. The synthesized membrane are characterized by using different techniques including Fourier transform infrared FTIR and X-ray diffraction (XRD), . Finally, the performance of membranes for biofuels separation are assessed using an in house built pervaporation setup.