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Volume 7, Issue 6(Suppl)
J Chromatogr Sep Tech
ISSN: 2157-7064 JCGST, an open access journal
Page 40
Notes:
Separation Techniques 2016
September 26-28, 2016
conferenceseries
.com
Separation Techniques
September 26-28, 2016 Valencia, Spain
2
nd
International Conference and Expo on
Highly selective sieving in porous graphene-like carbon nitride for helium/light isotopes
separation
Yuanyuan Qu
Shandong University, China
A
n efficient membrane for helium separation from natural gas is quite crucial for cryogenic industries. However, most
experimentally available membranes fail in separating helium from small molecules in natural gas, such as H
2
, as well as
in
3
He/
4
He isotopes separation. Using first-principles calculations, we theoretically demonstrated that the already-synthesized
graphitic carbon nitride (g-C
3
N
4
) has high efficiency in helium separation from the gas molecules (H
2
, N
2
, CO and CH
4
)
in natural gas and the noble gas molecules (Ne and Ar). The selectivity of He over H
2
molecule at room temperature is
calculated to be as high as 10
7
. More interestingly, the g-C
3
N
4
membrane can also serve as a quantum sieving membrane
for
3
He/
4
He separation with a predicted transmission ratio of 18 at 49 K, thus offers a combined means of both He and
3
He
isotope separation. Furthermore, for another experimentally available porous graphene-like carbon nitride (C
2
N-
h
2D), we
theoretically demonstrated that highly efficient light isotopes separation, such as
3
He/
4
He, can be reached via quantum sieving
effect. Under moderate tensile strain, the quantum sieving of the C
2
N-
h
2D membrane can be effectively tuned in a continuous
way, leading to a temperature window with high
3
He/
4
He selectivity and permeance acceptable for efficient isotopes harvest
in industrial application. This mechanism also holds for separation of other light isotopes, such as H
2
/D
2
, H
2
/T
2
. Such tunable
quantum sieving opens a promising avenue for light isotopes separation for industrial application.
quyuanyuan@sdu.edu.cnYuanyuan Qu, J Chromatogr Sep Tech 2016, 7:6(Suppl)
http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2157-7064.C1.019