The effect of temperature on the permeation properties of Sulphonated Poly (Ether Ether) Ketone in wet flue gas streams

Membrane technology can be used to recover high purity water from power station flue gas streams. In this work, the effect of temperature on water vapour and CO2 permeation properties of Sulphonated Poly (Ether Ether) Ketone (SPEEK) with two different ion exchange capacities were investigated (IEC 1.6 meq/g and 1.9 meq/g). It was found that both permeabilities increased with increasing water activity due to increased water solubility as water concentration increased. SPEEK with IEC 1.9 meq/g exhibited higher water permeability and selectivity than IEC 1.6 meq/g. At humidities greater than 50%, both water vapour and CO2 permeabilities also increased as temperature increased up to 50 degrees C due to the increase in diffusion of the penetrating molecules. However as temperature increased further, a significant drop in the permeability of both water and carbon dioxide occurred. This decrease was attributed to the formation of water clusters that filled the free volume in the polymer and hindered the diffusion of isolated molecules. This decrease in diffusion coupled with a reduction in solubility with increasing temperature resulted in the performance decline. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.