Using molecular simulations to accelerate development of gas separation membranes

I&EC 124

David Sholl, sholl@andrew.cmu.edu and Haibin Chen. Department of Chemical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Successful reducing atmospheric emissions of carbon dioxide requires separating carbon dioxide from mixed gas streams on extremely large scales. Membrane-based separations are likely to play an important role in this area. Existing membrane materials are not sufficient for the demands of several key areas where carbon dioxide separations are desirable, including purification of natural gas from carbon dioxide rich sources and capture of carbon dioxide from coal gasification. We will discuss how molecular modeling can play a useful role, in tandem with experiments, in the screening and discovery of new nanoporous materials for use as gas separation membranes. To be of use for this purpose, theoretical methods must be able to make accurate predictions about the adsorption and diffusion properties of gas mixtures in nanoporous materials. We will focus in particular on recent work on single walled carbon nanotubes and small pore silica zeolites, both of which hold promise as useful membrane materials in practical settings.