Polymeric membrane materials selection for high-pressure CO2 removal from natural gas

A quick qualitative comparison of membrane materials is often necessary in the early phases of membrane separation process design. This comparison and final material selection can be complex when a large number of materials and performance properties are involved. In such cases, a model-based material selection method is a very important tool that is needed by the engineers who are responsible for designing membrane separation systems. Therefore, a new performance criterion was proposed in terms of productivity loss. This criterion was used along with other membrane properties such as plasticization pressure, CO2 permeability, and CO2/CH4 selectivity to carry out a multi-objective optimization of membrane material selection for high-pressure membrane gas separation. Results from the analysis revealed that the productivity loss is very essential in evaluating the property of plasticization-resistant membrane materials. It was also shown that membrane material selection can be efficiently optimized using the multi-objective optimization approach.