Review on the preparation of carbon membranes derived from phenolic resins for gas separation: From petrochemical precursors to bioresources

Abstract Membrane processes, whose low energy and operating costs make them competitive for gas separation compared to other conventional methods such as pressure swing adsorption, cryogenic distillation or amine absorption, allows high-purity gas to be obtained in a sustainable and continuous manner. Similarly, resin-derived carbon membranes with molecular sieving properties have improved the selectivity and permeability of conventional dense membranes, as well as having high chemical and thermal resistance. In this review, an overview of the preparation of phenolic resin-based carbon membranes and their performance in gas separation is presented, particularly in processes involving permanent gases such as hydrogen purification, air separation, natural gas/biogas sweetening or carbon dioxide capture. Moreover, bioresources already proven for the synthesis of “greener” phenolic resins and the separation performance of some carbon membranes based on bioresource-derived phenolic resins are also reported and discussed in this work. This review will summarise the development and gas separation performance of phenolic resin-based carbon membranes and will provide a clear future direction in “green” carbon membranes research.