Gas sorption, permeation and separation of ABS copolymer membrane

Abstract This work examines the gas transport and sorption properties of a commercial acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene (ABS) copolymer (Lustran ® 246), containing 60% styrene, 27% acrylonitrile and 13% butadiene. Permeability, diffusion and sorption coefficients of CO 2 , CH 4 , N 2 and O 2 in ABS membrane were determined at temperatures from 20 to 50 °C and pressures in the 2–10 × 10 5  Pa range. The coefficients correspond to the van’t Hoff and Arrhenius relationships. In order to analyze the effect of plasticization, permeation properties were also determined at a feed pressure of 2 × 10 6  Pa with a 50% CO 2 /CH 4 mixture. Interesting O 2 permeability values and O 2 /N 2 separation factors in the whole range of temperature studied were obtained. The results presented and discussed in this paper suggest that the ABS copolymer can be used as membrane material for the separation of O 2 /N 2 at moderate temperature (20–50 °C), as far as it exhibits a balance of adequate thermal, mechanical and gas separation properties.