Preparación y caracterización de membranas planas y de fibras huecas para la separación de CO2

Abstract

The mitigation of climate change is one of the main challenges of the XXI century. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is considered one of the major greenhouse gases that contribute to the global warming. Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) is a proposed solution to reduce CO2 atmospheric emissions in the short term. Currently, the only post-combustion CO2 capture technology implemented at large scale is the chemical absorption with amines that presents a series of drawbacks. Membrane technology presents some advantages over conventional CO2 capture technologies. In order to constitute an alternative in CO2 capture, membranes have to meet good thermal and mechanical properties, as well as be robust enough to long-term operations, present high permeabilities and moderate selectivities and resist to humidity and other impurities of gas streams. This thesis aims at the preparation and characterization of robust membranes with high permeability and selectivity in CO2/N2 separation, as well as the study of the change of geometry from flat to composite hollow fiber membranes and their integration in post-combustion CO2 capture processes.