Creation of high performance separation membranes incorporating phenolic cyclic oligomers with CO2 uptake mechanism

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K12391
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 64020:Environmental load reduction and remediation-related
• Research Institution: Ube National College of Technology
• Principal Investigator: Yamasaki Hirohito 宇部工業高等専門学校, 物質工学科, 教授 (20300618)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 喜多 英敏 山口大学, 大学院創成科学研究科, 教授(特命) (10177826)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: フェノール類環状オリゴマー / ガス分離膜 / 気体透過性 / 理想分離係数 / CO2ガス分離

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In order to create a polymer separation membrane, we focused on cyclic oligomers (Noria) of phenols, which can capture CO2 molecules and can be thinned with a crystal size of less than 1 micrometer, and investigated: i) dispersing them uniformly in a polymer membrane after being dissolved in a special solvent such as N-methylpyrrolidone, and ii) chemically modifying the phenolic hydroxyl groups in Noria and thinning them by themselves.
i), the polymer chains blocked Noria's pores, showing a decrease in gas permeation performance. In ii), we tried to introduce various alkyl chains, but could not obtain a strong, free-standing membrane. Tubular membranes coated with chemically modified Noria on an alpha-alumina tubular support were prepared, but unreacted chemically modified molecules blocked the Noria cavity and did not show good gas separation properties.

Free Research Field

高分子化学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

地球規模の気候変動への対応のため、工場から排出されるCO2ガスを収集し、これを水素還元して有機原材料のメタノールへと誘導する技術の確立が求められている。これには、排ガスおよび水素・CO2等の混合ガスからのCO2ガスの濃縮・単離が必要となる。分離膜によるCO2ガス分離は多くの利点をもつが、特に、高透過性と高分離性を併せもつ分離膜によるCO2ガス分離技術は未だ見出されておらず、開発が急務である。