Sorption of CO(2), CH(4) and Their Mixtures in Amorphous Poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene)oxide (PPO)

Sorption of pure CO(2) and CH(4) and CO(2)/CH(4) binary gas mixtures in amorphous glassy Poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene) oxide (PPO) at 35 °C up to 1000 Torr was investigated. Sorption experiments were carried out using an approach that combines barometry with FTIR spectroscopy in the transmission mode to quantify the sorption of pure and mixed gases in polymers. The pressure range was chosen to prevent any variation of the glassy polymer density. The solubility within the polymer of the CO(2) present in the gaseous binary mixtures was practically coincident with the solubility of pure gaseous CO(2), up to a total pressure of the gaseous mixtures equal to 1000 Torr and for CO(2) mole fractions of ~0.5 mol mol(−1) and ~0.3 mol mol(−1). The Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics for Glassy Polymers (NET-GP) modelling approach has been applied to the Non-Random Hydrogen Bonding (NRHB) lattice fluid model to fit the solubility data of pure gases. We have assumed here that no specific interactions were occurring between the matrix and the absorbed gas. The same thermodynamic approach has been then used to predict the solubility of CO(2)/CH(4) mixed gases in PPO, resulting in a deviation lower than 9.5% from the experimental results for CO(2) solubility.