Udel® polysulfone was used in the early 1980’s to make the world’s first commercial gas separation membrane able to separate hydrogen from ammonia purge-gas streams. Soon after that, this material was used to make membranes for separating nitrogen and oxygen from air.
Today’s gas separation membranes are made using sulfone polymers and fluoropolymers because of several key performance attributes:
- Very high purity
- Tightly controlled molecular weight
- Good balance of permeability, selectivity and affordability for specific separation types
- Cost-effective production of high-quality, extremely fine hollow fiber membranes
Our high-performance polymers may also have a good fit with emerging polymer membrane applications, including:
- Carbon dioxide removal (e.g., from natural gas)
- Natural gas liquids removal and dehydration
- Hydrogen recovery from refinery wet gas and fuel gas streams
- Olefin/paraffin separations (e.g., propane/propylene)
- Carbon dioxide sequestration from flue gases
Halar® ECTFE is well-suited for applications needing extremely high hydrophobicity and chemical resistance.
Hyflon® AD amorphous perfluoropolymers are suitable for polymeric gas separation membranes used in the separation of gases or vapors, the recovery of gases and the enrichment of air in pharmaceutical or chemical processing applications.