Modelling facilitated transport in Polyvinyl amine membranes for CO2 capture: insights from Molecular Dynamics and PC-SAFT EoS.

The removal of CO2 from flue gas in power plants or energy-intensive industries is one of the main ways to reduce the increasing CO2 atmospheric levels, that cause global warming. Among the various technologies identified for this aim, such as solvent absorption and adsorption, membrane separation is considered as the most flexible and environmentally friendly option. For this reason the project NANOMEMC2 (www.nanomemc2.eu) aims at developing innovative membranes with improved CO2 capture ability, which can make the capture less costly. The project focuses on Facilitated Transport (FT) membranes, that are endowed with higher selectivity values with respect to conventional ones. Such materials bear amine groups that, in presence of humidity, promote reactions that boost the transport of CO2 while not affecting the other gases.