A method for manufacturing a porous device (10) is described. The method comprises creating (340) a carbon nanomembrane (40) on a top surface (22) of a base material (20) having latent pores (23) and etching (360) the latent pores (23) in the base material (20) to form open pores (24). The porous device (10) can be used as a filtration device.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a carbon molecular sieve membrane (and precursors therefor) including a pyrolysis product of an oxygen-free ladder polymer of intrinsic microporosity. Embodiments of the present disclosure further provide a method of gas separation including contacting a fluid including one or more gas components with a carbon molecular sieve membrane, wherein the carbon molecular sieve membrane includes a pyrolysis product of an oxygen-free ladder polymer of intrinsic microporosity, and separating at least one of said gas components from the fluid. Embodiments of the present disclosure further provide a method of preparing a carbon molecular sieve membrane including heating an oxygen-free ladder polymer of intrinsic microporosity to a pyrolysis temperature in an oxygen-free atmosphere to form, optionally without producing any oxygen-containing gas, a pyrolysis product.

A carbon molecular sieve (CMS) membrane having improved separation characteristics for separating olefins from their corresponding paraffins is comprised of carbon with at most trace amounts of sulfur and a group 13 metal. The CMS membrane may be made by pyrolyzing a precursor polymer devoid of sulfur in which the precursor polymer has had a group 13 metal incorporated into it, wherein the metal is in a reduced state. The pyrolyzing for the precursor having the group 13 metal incorporated into it is performed in a nonoxidizing atmosphere and at a heating rate and temperature such that the metal in a reduced state (e.g., covalently bonded to carbon or nitrogen or in the metal state).

The present disclosure relates to a mixed matrix carbon molecular sieve (CMS) membrane, a preparation method of the mixed matrix CMS membrane, and use of the mixed matrix CMS membrane in C.sub.2H.sub.4/C.sub.2H.sub.6 separation, and belongs to the technical field of membrane separation. The present disclosure solves the problem that the CMS materials in the prior art exhibit low selectivity and low flux during an ethylene/ethane separation process. In this patent, C.sub.3N.sub.4 is used as a filling particle to prepare a mixed matrix membrane (MMM), and the MMM is pyrolyzed to prepare a CMS membrane. The C.sub.3N.sub.4/6FDA-DAM MMM has prominent C2 separation performance.

A method of forming a carbon molecular sieve membrane includes dissolving a halogenated precursor polymer in a solvent, thereby forming a dissolved halogenated precursor polymer. Homogeneously dehydrohalogenating the dissolved halogenated precursor polymer with an organic amine base to form a partially dehydrohalogenated polymer. Forming a thin film from the partially dehydrohalogenated polymer. Pyrolyzing the thin film to form the carbon molecular sieve membrane.

A filter including a porous support defining one or more channels therethrough, and a porous ceramic membrane layer on a surface of the porous support defining at least one of the one or more channels. The ceramic membrane layer includes an inorganic ceramic composition having the formula SiM.sup.p.sub.xpC.sub.yN.sub.zO.sub.mH.sub.n, where each M.sup.p present is independently selected from a p-block element or a d-block element; p is an integer from 1 to 5; for each M.sup.p present, xp is independently from about 0 to about 60; y is from about 0 to about 60; z is from about 0 to about 60; m is from about 0 to about 40; and n is zero or nonzero. At least one of y and z is nonzero when p is zero, and p is nonzero when y and z are both zero.

The invention is an improved method of making an improved carbon molecular sieve (CMS) membrane in which a precursor polymer (e.g., polyimide) is pyrolyzed at a pyrolysis temperature to form a CMS membrane that is cooled to ambient temperature (about 40° C. or 30° C. to about 20° C.). The CMS membrane is then reheated to a reheating temperature less than the pyrolysis temperature to form the improved CMS membrane. The improved CMS membranes have shown an improved combination of selectivity and permeance as well as stability for separating hydrogen from gas molecules (e.g., methane, ethane, propane, ethylene, propylene, butane, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, butylene, and combinations thereof).

A separator element comprising a porous rigid single-piece substrate (2) presenting firstly, at its periphery, a perimeter wall (2.sub.1) that is continuous between an inlet (4) for the fluid medium for treatment at one end of the porous substrate and an outlet (5) for the retentate at the other end of the porous substrate, and secondly, internally, a surface covered by a separator layer (6) and defining an open structure made up of empty spaces (3) for passing a flow of the fluid medium for treatment. The empty spaces (3) are arranged in the porous substrate so as to create within the porous substrate a first flow network (R1) for the fluid medium for treatment, having at least two interconnected flow circuits (R1.sub.1, R1.sub.2) for the fluid medium between the inlet (4) and the outlet (5) of the porous substrate.

Embodiments include methods of fabricating thin film composite carbon molecular sieve membranes by exposing a polymer layer to a vapor-phase metal-organic precursor under vapor phase infiltration conditions such that the vapor-phase metal- organic precursor diffuses into the polymer layer and reacts with a functional group of the polymer to form an inorganic-organic complex; exposing the polymer layer to a vapor-phase co-reactant under vapor phase infiltration conditions such that the vapor- phase co-reactant diffuses into the polymer layer and oxidizes the organic-inorganic complex to form a metal oxide; and subjecting the polymer layer to inert-atmosphere or vacuum pyrolysis. Embodiments further include thin film composite carbon molecular sieves, and methods of separating one or more chemical species using the carbon molecular sieve membranes.

A carbon molecular sieve (CMS) membrane may advantageously be made by pyrolyzing a membrane precursor composition comprised of a carbon forming polymer (e.g., polyimide) blended with a polyvinylidene chloride copolymer (PVDC), the polyvinylidene chloride copolymer being the reaction product of at least 60% to 97% by weight of vinylidene chloride and at least one other comonomer and the carbon forming polymer to polyvinylidene chloride copolymer has a weight ratio of greater than 1 to 99. The membrane precursor composition may be formed by dissolving the carbon forming polymer and PVDC in a solvent to form a dope solution. The dope solution may be shaped, for example, into an asymmetric hollow fiber. The asymmetric hollow fiber may be heated to a temperature to dehydrochorinate the PVDC and then subsequently heated in a non-oxidizing atmosphere to carbonize the polymers of the shaped membrane to form the CMS membrane.