Synthetic polymer-based membranes for acidic gas removal

Abstract Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a key greenhouse gas whose major anthropogenic generation is due to the burning of fossil fuels. As CO2 emissions are considered a cause of global warming, various approaches have been conducted to reduce them. Along with CO2, other gases such as hydrogen sulfide are also generated due to the combustion of fossil fuels, and can cause serious global environmental problems. The compact polymer-based membrane separation technology is known to have the highest potential at separating acidic gases. Various studies have been conducted on the design of the diverse polymeric separation membranes, especially on acidic gas permselective membranes, which allow acidic gases to permeate preferentially over other impurity gases. Such polymeric membranes are commonly developed from cellulose acetate, polyimides, and polyurethane, and include composite membranes such as mixed matrix membranes (MMMs), polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIM), thermally rearranged (TR) polymers, and ionic liquid membranes.