| Abstract |
Clean and sustainable energy production has become a key global issue concerning the world s energy shortage and environmental problems. Despite the recognized potential of biohydrogen (bioH(2)) for sustainable development, there are still issues regarding its production and purification, such as the elimination of CO2, N-2, and other impurities (H2O and H2S), so that an enriched H-2 stream can be obtained for efficient energy generation. The use of poly(ionic liquid)s (PILs) and their derived composite materials incorporating ionic liquids (PIL-IL) has been considered a highly promising strategy to design membranes with improved CO2 separation. In this study, membranes of pyrrolidinium-based PILs containing symmetric or asymmetric fluorosulfonyl-derived anions, namely, bis(fluorosulfonyl)amide ([FSI](-)), (trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl-N-cyanoamide ([TFSAM](-)), and (trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl-N-trifluoroacetamide ([TSAC](-)), were prepared by the incorporation of different amounts of structurally similar ILs. The PIL-IL membranes were characterized by different techniques (thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, Fourier-transform infrared, and Raman), and their CO2/H-2 and H-2/N-2 separation performances were investigated. Higher CO2/H-2 selectivities were obtained for PIL FSI-40 [C(2)mim] [FSI] (alpha(CO2)(/)(H2) = 9.0) and PIL TFSAM-40 [C(2)mim][TFSAM] (alpha(CO2/H2) = 7.1) compared to those of PIL-IL membranes containing the conventional [TFSI](-) anion at similar or even higher amounts of IL incorporation. |
