Preparation and characterization of composite membrane for high temperature gas separation

A new class of perm-selective inorganic membrane was developed by electroless deposition of palladium thin-film on a microporous {alpha}-alumina ceramic substrate ({phi}39 mm x 2 mm thickness, nominal pore size 150 nm and open porosity {approx} 42 %). The new membrane was characterized by Scanning Electron Micrography (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDX) and conducting permeability experiments with hydrogen, helium, argon and carbon dioxide at temperatures from 473 K to 673 K and feed pressures from 136 kPa to 274 kPa. The results indicate that the membrane has both high permeability and selectivity for hydrogen. The hydrogen transport through the Pd-composite membrane closely followed Sievert's law. A theoretical model is presented to describe the performance of a single-stage permeation process. The model uses a unified mathematical formulation and calculation methods for two flow patterns (cocurrent and countercurrent) with two permeable components and a nonpermeable fraction in the feed and a sweep stream in the permeate. The countercurrent flow pattern is always better than the cocurrent flow pattern with respect to stage cut and membrane area. The effect of flow configuration decreases with increasing membrane selectivity or with decreasing permeate/feed ratio