A novel technique using reclaimed tire rubber for gas separation membranes

Guo Liang Zhuang, Ming Yen Wey*, Hui Hsin Tseng

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

A novel method was developed to reuse waste tires for the fabrication of polymer membranes for use in gas separation. The membranes fabricated using reclaimed tire rubber (RTR) as the precursor were prepared by a simple pretreatment and fabrication process. The fabrication parameters, including the crosslinking system and the concentration of the coating dope, were optimized. During the pretreatment, reclaimed rubber can be extracted from the RTR using toluene as the solvent; the carbon black and other fillers can be separated simultaneously by centrifugation. The results indicate that a gas separation membrane can be fabricated using a coating dope containing a small amount of reclaimed rubber without an additional crosslinking system. Moreover, RTR obtained by a cryo-mechanical reclaiming process demonstrated greater gas separation performance than RTR obtained by a mechanical–chemical reclaiming process. The RTR is a promising membrane material for CO2/N2 and O2/N2 separation dominated by the solution-diffusion mechanism following the sequence of gas critical temperature: CO2 (304.2 K)>CH4 (190.8 K)>O2 (154.6 K)>N2 (126.2 K); the RTR is a durable membrane for high-pressure gas feeds or long-term usage. The reuse technique described in this paper provides a simple and convenient route for utilizing waste tires for the fabrication of valuable gas separation membranes.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)314-325
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of Membrane Science
Volume520
Early online date29 Jul 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Dec 2016

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • Gas separation
  • Reclaimed tire rubber
  • Reuse
  • Rubbery polymeric membrane
  • Waste tire

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