Diseño y optimización de procesos de purificación de propileno mediante membranas de alto rendimiento pvdf-hfp/bmimbf4/agbf4

Abstract

Propylene is the second-largest-volume chemical produced globally, mainly driven by the production of polypropylene resins. The impact of this commodity chemical in the world’s economy has been growing in the last decades and the remarkable importance of its wide list of derivative products guarantees that this trend will continue. However, the separation of propane/propylene gaseous mixtures entails great challenges from the point of view of the economic and environmental sustainability of the manufacture processes of propylene and its derivative products. These challenges arise from the large energy and capital intensity of the current separation processes, mainly based on cryogenic and high pressure distillations, and caused by the similar physico-chemical properties of both substances. This thesis aims at the synthesis and development of innovative membrane materials and the assessment of their separation performance when implemented in alternative membrane-based processes.