The use of a sucrose precursor to prepare a carbon membrane for the separation of hydrogen from methane

Abstract

In this study, we present the use of sucrose (C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁), which exists in abundance in nature, to prepare a carbon membrane without any preceding treatments. The preparation procedure was conducted using a low pyrolysis temperature, i.e., in the range of 300–500 °C, followed by complete formation of the structure of the carbon membrane. The gas separation characteristics of the resulting membranes were assessed by evaluating both hydrogen and methane permeation. The highest selectivity obtained for H₂/CH₄ was 31.34 with H₂ permeability of 459.24 GPU. The entire fabrication procedure was designed to be economical in order to facilitate any future commercialization.