Nanocomposite membranes with high-charge and size-screened phosphorylated nanocellulose fibrils for CO2 separation
Ragne Marie Lilleby Helberg, Jonathan Ø. Torstensen, Zhongde Dai, Saravanan Janakiram, Gary Chinga‐Carrasco, Øyvind Weiby Gregersen, Kristin Syverud, Liyuan Deng
Abstract
In this study, cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) of high charge (H-P-CNF) and screened size (H-P-CNF-S) were fabricated by increasing the charge of phosphorylated cellulose nanofibrils (P-CNFs) during the pre-treatment step of CNF production. Results show that the H-P-CNF have a significantly higher charge (3.41 mmol g−1) compared with P-CNF (1.86 mmol g−1). Centrifugation of H-P-CNF gave a supernatant with higher charge (5.4 mmol g−1) and a reduced size (H-P-CNF-S). These tailored nanocelluloses were added to polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solutions and the suspensions were successfully coated on porous polysulfone (PSf) supports to produce thin-film nanocomposite membranes. The humid mixed gas permeation tests show that CO2 permeability increases for membranes with the addition of H-P-CNF-S by 52% and 160%, compared with the P-CNF/PVA membrane and neat PVA membrane, respectively.