Journal of Physical Science, Vol. 29(Supp. 1), 91–97, 2018 © Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2018. This work is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Efects of Silica Loading on the Absorption of Carbon Dioxide by Mixed Matrix Membranes Abdul Latif Ahmad, * Aishah Rosli, Siew Chun Low and Jit Kang Lim School of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Engineering Campus, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia * Corresponding author: chlatif@usm.my Published online: 25 February 2018 To cite this article: Ahmad, A. L. et al. (2018). Efects of silica loading on the absorption of carbon dioxide by mixed matrix membranes. J. Phys. Sci., 29(Supp. 1), 91–97, https://doi.org/10.21315/jps2018.29.s1.12 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.21315/jps2018.29.s1.12 ABSTRACT: Fumed silica nanoparticles, TS-530 were used with polyvinylidene fuoride (PVDF) in this work to produce mixed matrix membranes (MMM). Various nanoparticle loading were used to observe the efects of diferent nanoparticle loading on the characteristics, morphology and gas absorption performance of the resulting MMMs. 0.5 wt%, 1.0 wt%, 1.5 wt%, 3 wt%, 5 wt% and 10 wt% silica nanoparticles were added into the polymer dope solution before the membranes were cast in fat sheet confguration. Membrane contact angle tests showed an increase of the contact angle with silica loading, which is a desired characteristic in membrane gas absorption process. Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) surface mapping of these MMMs indicated that the nanoparticles were quite well distributed in the polymer matrix despite its tendency to agglomerate. Permeability of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in a gas mixture of CO 2 and nitrogen (N 2 ) for MMMs were better compared to the pure PVDF membrane, with 1 wt% silica loading having the best CO 2 permeability. Selectivity, however, decreased with increasing nanoparticles loading, which may be the result of poor compatibility between the nanoparticles and the polymer matrix. Keywords: Mixed matrix membrane, CO 2 absorption, membrane gas absorption, silica loading, polyvinylidene 1. INTRODUCTION A method proposed to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases is carbon capture and storage (CCS) system. Membrane gas absorption (MGA) is an attractive alternative to the conventional chemical absorption systems. Of the commonly used hydrophobic polymers, polyvinylidene fuoride (PVDF) is the most attractive