초록 |
Hydrogen has been used for decades in various industrial fields, such as petrochemicals, oil refining, semiconductors, and food, and has recently been spotlighted as a major energy source owing to its eco-friendliness. Hydrogen is obtained primarily from methane reforming and industrial processes as a by-product gas; thus, the efficient purification of hydrogen from mixed gases to a desired purity is essential. Among various separation techniques, membrane technology is desirable for molecular-scale separations because of its inherent advantages such as high energy efficiency, excellent reliability, and small carbon footprint. Although many hydrogen-selective polymer membrane materials have been reported, their practical applications have been limited because a uniform thin film of a desired thickness and area cannot be obtained via conventional membrane-manufacturing methods such as hollow fiber spinning and solution coating. The water-cast polymer membrane fabricated in this study exhibited significantly improved H2 permeance compared to those of hollow fibers fabricated via conventional phase inversion, without losing its selectivity. The water-casting method, which can be scaled up easily for manufacturing large membranes using a minimum amount of material, can be applied for various types of eco-friendly and energy-efficient membrane processes, including hydrogen purification. |