Polymeric membranes for CO2 capture

The object of this PhD work is the study of innovative, composite and nanostructured polymeric materials for membrane-based separation and removal of CO2 from gaseous streams. The research on gas separation membranes, in the last two decades was largely devoted to the synthesis and fabrication of new, multiphasic materials, such as copolymers, composite materials bearing fillers dispersed in the polymeric matrix, or functionalized materials having selective functional groups attached to the polymer backbone. The materials investigated in this thesis can be divided in three classes: copolyetherimides: copolymers formed by a glassy polyimide phase, composite membranes, commonly defined as Mixed Matrix Membranes, functionalized materials obtained by chemically attaching amine moieties to a polymeric backbone for the instauration, in appropriate operative conditions, of the facilitated transport mechanism of CO2. All the above materials have the advantage that their transport properties, in terms of solubility, diffusivity and thus of gas permeability and selectivity, can be tuned and adjusted for the practical purpose. To this end, in this work, an experimental campaign devoted to the measurement of transport properties will be supported by a modeling approach on the continuous scale, for better understanding mass transport properties and the influence of material formulation on them, and develop easily accessible models for the prediction of materials behavior.