Ultra-selective defect-free interfacially polymerized molecular sieve thin-film composite membranes for H2 purification

Abstract

Purification is a major bottleneck in generating low-cost commercial hydrogen. In this work, inexpensive high-performance H₂ separating membranes were fabricated by modifying the commercially successful interfacial polymerization production method for reverse osmosis membranes. Defect-free thin-film composite membranes were formed demonstrating unprecedented mixed-gas H₂/CO₂ selectivity of ≈50 at 140 °C with a H₂ permeance of 350 GPU, surpassing the permeance/selectivity upper bound of all known polymer membranes by a wide margin. The combination of exceptional separation performance and low manufacturing cost makes them excellent candidates for cost-effective hydrogen purification from steam cracking and similar processes.