Supported Ionic Liquid Membranes and Ion-Jelly(®) Membranes with [BMIM][DCA]: Comparison of Its Performance for CO(2) Separation

In this work, a supported ionic liquid membrane (SILM) was prepared by impregnating a PVDF membrane with 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide ([BMIM][DCA]) ionic liquid. This membrane was tested for its permeability to pure gases (CO(2), N(2) and O(2)) and ideal selectivities were calculated. The SILM performance was also compared to that of Ion-Jelly(®) membranes, a new type of gelled membranes developed recently. It was found that the PVDF membrane presents permeabilities for pure gases similar or lower to those presented by the Ion-Jelly(®) membranes, but with increased ideal selectivities. This membrane presents also the highest ideal selectivity (73) for the separation of CO(2) from N(2) when compared with SILMs using the same PVDF support but with different ionic liquids.