ABSTRACT
Carbon membranes are one of the best candidate materials for gas separation processes due to their high selectivity, good permeability values and high active area and thanks to their thermal stability and their stability in multitude corrosive environments. Carbon membranes are mainly produced from polymeric precursors via pyrolysis processes under controlled conditions, mostly under inert and/or vacuum environments. Several research groups currently working in this area have used different polymeric materials as polymeric membrane precursors. Specifically, during the past two decades more sophisticated new materials and conformations, including multiple layered and mixed matrix membranes, have been proposed as new precursors for carbon membrane derivatives. This work reviews the main steps and achievements of carbon membranes, concluding in natural gas sweetening processes. In addition, we present and discuss popular polymeric precursor materials, membrane preparation conditions, pyrolysis processes and reported permeability and selectivity characteristics. Attention has been given to the chapter structure, in order for the manuscript to be comprehensible not only to professionals but also to students and engineers who want to start to work on this topic.
