ABSTRACT

Presently, the power generation industry has grown in response to the rising demand for electricity, resulting in higher reliance on the combustion of fossil fuels and coals. As a consequence, this has greatly impacted global warming causing an increase in the emission of carbon dioxide (CO₂), which in turn has affected the sustainable development goals globally. There are several carbon capture methods used in the industries with the aim of reducing the emission of CO₂. One of the most popular membrane technology methods is Mixed Matrix Membranes (MMMs). In this research, the blend MMMs were synthesised by embedding the functionalised multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs-F) using Chen’s Soft-Cutting method along with β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) into the blend cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) polymer, which had different molecular weights of 12,000, 16,000 and 70,000, mixed in a ratio of 1:2:2. To date, the Hansen solubility parameters together with the CO₂ solubility and diffusivity coefficients have not been explored for this combination of MMMs. However, this work demonstrated the CO₂ solubility coefficient directly correlate to the CO₂ permeance of MMM. Additionally, the CO₂ coefficient was influenced by chain spacing and the amorphous fraction, which in turn affected the CO₂ affinity of the membrane.

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