The separation of water vapor and ammonia is a challenging task for gas processing, in refrigeration systems, and in industrial and municipal wastewater due to the high solubility and strong hydrogen bonding of water and ammonia. The goal of this project is to create a water vapor permeable membrane that prevents the permeation of ammonia to avoid contamination of downstream gas processing. Graphene and graphene oxide are currently one of the most studied materials for selective gas permeation due to the 2D structure that provides a tortuous path for the gas molecules, leading to selective permeation. At low moisture levels, however, these materials have low permeability due to the collapse of the 2D structure. Inorganic based membranes are more chemically robust and can have lower energy barriers for water permeation because of their higher hydrophilicity. In this work, the performance and stability of water vapor permeation and ammonia rejection through various membranes, including molybdenum oxide and graphene oxide, was measured using XRD, FTIR, Raman, AFM, and RGA.

Water vapor permeation of inorganic membranes

2019 Fall National Meeting

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.