Separation of CO2 and CH4 by a DDR membrane

The permeation of CO2 and CH4 and their binary mixtures through a DDR membrane has been investigated over a wide range of temperatures and pressures. The synthesized DDR membrane exhibits a high permeance and maintains a very high selectivity for CO2. At a total pressure of 101 kPa, the highest selectivity for CO2 in a 50∶50 feed mixture was found to be over 4000 at 225 K. This is ascribed to the higher adsorption affinity, as well as to the higher mobility for the smaller CO2 molecules in the zeolite, preventing the bypassing of the CH4 through the membrane. An engineering model, based on the generalized Maxwell-Stefan equations, has been used to interpret the transport phenomena in the membrane. The feasibility of DDR membranes as applied to CO2 removal from natural gas or biogas is anticipated.