Performance Evaluation of PDMS or PEBAX-Coated Polyetherimide Membrane for Oxygen/Nitrogen Separation

Since the industrial revolution era, Earth was suffering from serious air pollution. Millions of people are now indoor pollution related diseases, especially in industrialized countries such as China. One method to improve quality is by oxygen enhancement. Membrane technology has been a key research over past decades due its low energy usage, minimum chemical consumption well small setting up layout. In this study, polyetherimide (PEI) membranes coated with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) or poly(ether block amide) (PEBAX) at different concentration (1, 3 5 wt%) were used evaluate oxygen/nitrogen gas separation. Prior permeation characterized using scanning electron microscope (SEM) for morphology observation and surface elemental analysis dispersive X-ray spectroscope (EDX). The self-fabricated PEI composed thin dense structure supported finger-like structure. results obtained separation studies shows membrane wt% PDMS yield good results, exhibiting an improvement nitrogen permeance 28.2% 24.9%, selectivity 10.4% (up 5.08) relative base membrane. Meanwhile, PEBAX-coated only achieved 3.56. PDMS-coated better performance attributed fact that coating on hollow fiber reducing defects.