Effective Separation of Carbon Dioxide using Graphene Oxide Based Membrane

Hafsa Bano; Asim Mushtaq; Raza Muhammad Khan; Zaeem Uddin Ali

Hafsa Bano Chemical Engineering Department, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
Asim Mushtaq Polymer and Petrochemical Engineering Department, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
Raza Muhammad Khan Polymer and Petrochemical Engineering Department, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
Zaeem Uddin Ali Chemical Engineering Department, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan

Keywords: chemical vapour deposition, graphene oxide, carbon dioxide, Hummer's method, polyvinylidene fluoride membrane

Abstract

Graphene oxide (GO) was made via improved Hummer's method, which excludes the use of sodium nitrate (NaNO3) has done in conventional Hummer's method. The exclusion of NaNO3 from the process eliminates nitrogen dioxide/dinitrogen tetraoxide (NO2/N2O4) toxic gases. The presence of sodium (Na+) and nitrate (NO3-) ions in the final product, therefore making this process more environmentally friendly and impurities free relatively to Hummer's method. XRD and FTIR characterized prepared membranes. Graphene oxide exhibits a sharp peak at 11.40° in the XRD test. From FTIR results, the broad absorption peak at 2950.98 cm-1 can be recognized as the stretching and bending trembling of hydroxyl groups and surface absorbed water. Furthermore, GO indicates weak absorption peaks related to the presence of GO at about 1538.85 - 1650.39 cm-1, conforming to C=C, C-OH and C-O-C stretching vibrations in FTIR. The peaks at 1377 cm-1, 1062 cm-1 and 1375 cm-1 1064 cm-1 show the deformation of the -OH functional group, epoxy C-O-C stretching and carboxyl C-O stretching pulsations. The separation of carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen (N2) gas was observed by calculating the permeability of CO2 gas and flux through a GO membrane with the help of flow rate, concentration and gas pressure at the inlet and outlet of a gas module.The separation of carbon dioxide gas increases as the permeability and flux increase. It was observed that CO2 gas separated through the GO membrane from N2 gas in the membrane.