Development of carbon membrane for CO2/N2 and CO2/CH4 separation

Carbon membranes were prepared using stainless steel supports and evaluated for the separation of two mixtures, i.e. CO₂/N₂ and CO₂/CH₄. The effect of seve­ral operating variables, including temperature, pre­ssure and precursor concentration was examined. In this study, carbon membranes were synthesized using a sucrose precursor. Sucrose was subjected to pyrolysis in the temperature range 300–700°C, leading to the complete formation of carbon structure. The gas separation characteristics of the produced membranes were estimated by evaluating CO₂, CH₂ and N₂ permeation. The highest selectivity obtained for CO₂/CH₄ and CO₂/N₂ was 1.64 and 1.41 respectively. The emphasis towards CO₂/CH₄ and CO₂/N₂ separation is due to their importance and direct relevance to the gas industry processes.