Polytriazole membranes with ultrathin tunable selective layer for crude oil fractionation

Stefan Chisca, Valentina-Elena Musteata, Wen Zhang, Serhii Vasylevskyi, Gheorghe Falca, Edy Abou-Hamad, Abdul-Hamid M. Emwas, Mustafa Altunkaya, Suzana Pereira Nunes

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

64 Scopus citations

Abstract

The design of materials and their manufacture into membranes that can handle industrial conditions and separate complex nonaqueous mixtures are challenging. We report a versatile strategy to fabricate polytriazole membranes with 10-nanometer-thin selective layers containing subnanometer channels for the separation of hydrocarbons. The process involves the use of the classical nonsolvent-induced phase separation method and thermal cross-linking. The membrane selectivity can be tuned to the lower end of the typical nanofiltration range (200 to 1000 gram mole−1). The polytriazole membrane can enrich up to 80 to 95% of the hydrocarbon content with less than 10 carbon atoms (140 gram mole−1). These membranes preferentially separate paraffin over aromatic components, making them suitable for integration in hybrid distillation systems for crude oil fractionation.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1105-1110
Number of pages6
JournalScience
Volume376
Issue number6597
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2 2022

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

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