Removal of hydrogen sulfide from methane using commercial polyphenylene oxide and Cardo-type polyimide hollow fiber membranes

Abstract

The performances of commercially available poly (2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene oxide)(PPO) and Cardo-type polyimide (PI) hollow fiber membranes were investigated in removing hydrogen sulfide from methane in a series of bench-scale experiments. It was observed that in the concentration range of 101 to 401 ppm H2S in methane, the CH4 permeability decreased in the presence of H2S for Cardo-type polyimide hollow fiber membranes whereas the PPO membrane performance was not affected. The separation coefficients of H2S/CH4 were 6 and 4 for PI and PPO membranes, respectively. Also, the effect of temperature on the performance of PI and PPO membranes was studied. It was observed that the permeabilities of both components of the mixture increased with increasing temperature whereas the selectivities remained constant.