ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on polymeric membrane based systems due to their low cost and greater technological maturity. It also focuses on the advances of polymer-based thin film composite membranes. The chapter discusses the concepts of solution-diffusion, facilitated transport and mixed matrix structures. It highlights the challenges of the deployment of membranes in industrial applications including physical aging, plasticization and impurity effects. Mixed matrix membranes comprising a bulk polymer as the continuous phase and inorganic filler as the dispersed phase, are able to overcome the performance trade-off of polymeric membranes while retaining the advantages of low cost and good processability. Many nanoporous materials have been investigated as fillers such as zeolites, metal organic frameworks, carbon nanotubes and graphene oxide. The plasticization pressure is also thickness dependent. The plasticization effect can also cause selectivity to decrease under mixed gas conditions for CO2 separation applications.