Performance of zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 on quarry dust-based ceramic hollow fibre membranes for CO2 and CH4 permeation / Nur Ain Shazwani Roslee Ab. Jamal

Raw natural gas typically contains undesirable impurities such as CO2, water and heavy hydrocarbons. As the demand for natural gas increases, an effective way to remove CO2 from natural gas using a membrane has been proposed. Ceramic membrane has been considered as potential candidates than polymeric membrane for industrial application due to its ability to be used in harsh conditions. However, the fabrication of ceramic hollow fibre membrane (CHFM) has larger footprint due to multiple steps fabrication and expensive raw material that simultaneously increased the overall cost of ceramic membrane applications. Therefore, by using low-cost raw materials, particularly from quarry dust waste, the cost can reduced significantly. Up until no study have investigated the used of granite dust for CHFM fabrication. In order to further enhance the selectivity of ceramic membrane, zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) layer was deposited onto the ceramic hollow fibre membrane (CHFM) support. Pebax was also added to improve the compatibility of ZIF-8 with CHFM and further enhance the CO2 permeability. The pyscochemical properties of quarry dust was first characterized using XRD, XRF, BET, TGA, FTIR, and particle sizer before being used as the raw material for CHFM fabircation. The CHFM was prepared via a phase inversion and sintering method where the effects of bore fluid flow rate (6-10 ml·min-1) and sintering temperature (1050-1150 ℃) towards the morphology and microstructure, pore size distribution, pore volume and porosity, mechanical properties and pure water flux were then systematically investigated. Higher sintering temperature enhances the mechanical properties of CHFMs due to pores densification, but it also leads to a less porous CHFM, which can affect their permeation flux.