Hydrogen Separation (hydrogen + separation)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Ceramic Supported Capillary Pd Membranes for Hydrogen Separation: Potential and Present Limitations

FUEL CELLS, Issue 6 2006
V. Gepert
Abstract Composite ceramic capillaries coated with thin palladium membranes are developed for the production of CO-free hydrogen for PEM fuel cells, via alcohol steam reforming. The composite membranes are tested for pure H2 and N2, as well as for synthetic reformate gas. The aim is to develop a heat-integrated compact membrane reformer for decentralized hydrogen production. In this context, a deep knowledge of the performance, behavior, and necessary treatment of the composite palladium membranes plays a decisive role in process design. The current contribution focuses on the main hurdles met while attempting to exploit the potential of ceramic supported capillary palladium membranes. [source]


Hydrogen separation of methyltriethoxysilane templating silica membrane

AICHE JOURNAL, Issue 12 2007
Jong-Ho Moon
Abstract Hydrogen separation on microporous methyltriethoxysilane-templating silica composite/,-alumina membranes (below MTES membrane) was studied using three binary gas mixtures: H2/N2, H2/CO2, and H2/CH4. The characteristics of unsteady and steady-state permeation/separation on the MTES membrane were compared to each other. Although permeation flux in the H2/N2 mixture was comparatively low, H2 selectivity was high (H2/N2 SF , 30,60). On the contrary, the H2/CO2 mixture showed high permeation flux but low H2 selectivity (H2/CO2 SF , 1.5,6.5). The H2/CH4 mixture showed a large difference between permselectivity (28,48) and separation factor (10,22). Results from this study revealed that it was difficult to predict the separation factor using the one-component permeation ratio (permselectivity) over the experimental range tested. These separation characteristics could be primarily ascribed to the molecular size and structure of each gas, which likely contributed to steric hindrance or molecular sieving within the membrane pore. In addition, the adsorption affinity of each molecule on the membrane surface acted as a key factor in separation performance because it significantly influenced surface diffusion. The generalized Maxwell-Stefan model incorporating the dust gas model, and the Langmuir model could successfully predict the transient and steady-state permeation/separation. © 2007 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2007 [source]


Multilayer Amorphous-Si-B-C-N/,-Al2O3/,-Al2O3 Membranes for Hydrogen Purification,,

ADVANCED ENGINEERING MATERIALS, Issue 6 2010
Ravi Mohan Prasad
Abstract The hydrogen and carbon monoxide separation is an important step in the hydrogen production process. If H2 can be selectively removed from the product side during hydrogen production in membrane reactors, then it would be possible to achieve complete CO conversion in a single-step under high temperature conditions. In the present work, the multilayer amorphous-Si-B-C-N/,-Al2O3/,-Al2O3 membranes with gradient porosity have been realized and assessed with respect to the thermal stability, geometry of pore space and H2/CO permeance. The ,-Al2O3 support has a bimodal pore-size distribution of about 0.64 and 0.045 µm being macroporous and the intermediate ,-Al2O3 layer,deposited from boehmite colloidal dispersion,has an average pore-size of 8,nm being mesoporous. The results obtained by the N2 -adsorption method indicate a decrease in the volume of micropores,0.35 vs. 0.75,cm3,g,1,and a smaller pore size ,6.8 vs. 7.4 Ĺ,in membranes with the intermediate mesoporous ,-Al2O3 layer if compared to those without. The three times Si-B-C-N coated multilayer membranes show higher H2/CO permselectivities of about 10.5 and the H2 permeance of about 1.05,×,10,8 mol m,2 s,1 Pa,1. If compared to the state of the art of microporous membranes, the multilayer Si-B-C-N/,-Al2O3/,-Al2O3 membranes are appeared to be interesting candidates for hydrogen separation because of their tunable nature and high-temperature and high-pressure stability. [source]


Liquid membrane technology: fundamentals and review of its applications

JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY & BIOTECHNOLOGY, Issue 1 2010
M. F. San Román
Abstract OVERVIEW: During the past two decades, liquid membrane technology has grown into an accepted unit operation for a wide variety of separations. The increase in the use of this technology owing to strict environmental regulations and legislation together with the wider acceptance of this technology in preference to conventional separation processes has led to a spectacular advance in membrane development, module configurations, applications, etc. IMPACT: Liquid membrane technology makes it possible to attain high selectivity as well as efficient use of energy and material relative to many other separation systems. However, in spite of the known advantages of liquid membranes, there are very few examples of industrial applications because of the problems associated with the stability of the liquid membrane. APPLICATIONS: Liquid membrane technology has found applications in the fields of chemical and pharmaceutical technology, biotechnology, food processing and environmental engineering. On the other hand, its use in other fields, such as in the case of hydrogen separation, the recovery of aroma compounds from fruits, the application of ionic liquids in the membrane formulation, etc., is increasing rapidly. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry [source]


Design of a thermally balanced membrane reformer for hydrogen production

AICHE JOURNAL, Issue 10 2008
David S. A. Simakov
Abstract Hydrogen production by autothermal methane steam reforming in a catalytic fixed bed membrane reactor has been analyzed and simulated. The two-compartment reactor indirectly couples the endothermic steam reforming with methane oxidation, while hydrogen is separated by a permselective Pd membrane. Simulations of the reactor, using published kinetics, map the acceptable domain of operation and the optimal set of operating parameters. The simulations exhibit slow-moving thermal fronts and the steady-state operation domains bounded by stationary fronts, separating domains of upstream and downstream-moving fronts. Front velocity depends on thermal coupling and hydrogen separation. An analytical approximation for the thermal front velocity in a thermally balanced reactor has been developed. © 2008 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2008 [source]


Heat-exchange pressure swing adsorption process for hydrogen separation

AICHE JOURNAL, Issue 8 2008
Jang-Jae Lee
Abstract A current focus in the energy field is on the use of hydrogen in fuel cells. Development of a hydrogen station system is important to the commercialization of fuel cells and fuel cell powered vehicles. In this study, the heat-exchange pressure swing adsorption (HE-PSA) was developed to design a compact H2 PSA process for small spatial occupancy in the hydrogen station. The adsorption dynamics and performance of the newly designed bed were compared with those of a conventional bed by using a quaternary mixture (H2/CO2/CH4/CO 69:26:3:2 vol %) which is generally obtained from the steam-reforming reaction of natural gas. Because the detrimental exothermic/endothermic heat effects accompanied by the adsorption/desorption steps were reduced by heat exchange between the adsorption beds, the separation performance of the HE-PSA was higher than that of a conventional PSA. In addition, the spatial occupancy of the beds could be significantly reduced, compared with a conventional PSA, because the single annular-type bed performed the function of two beds in the HE-PSA. © 2008 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2008 [source]


Solar membrane natural gas steam-reforming process: evaluation of reactor performance

ASIA-PACIFIC JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING, Issue 1 2010
M. De Falco
Abstract In this work, the performance of an innovative plant for efficient hydrogen production using solar energy for the process heat duty requirements has been evaluated via a detailed 2D model. The steam-reforming reactor consists of a bundle of coaxial double tubes assembled in a shell. The annular section of each tube is the reaction zone in which Ni-based catalyst pellets are packed, whereas the inner tube is a dense Pd-based selective membrane that is able to remove hydrogen from the reaction zone. By coupling reaction and hydrogen separation, equilibrium constrains inside the reactor are circumvented and high methane conversions at relatively low temperatures are achieved. The heat needed for the steam-reforming reaction at this low operating temperature can be supplied by using a molten salt stream, heated up to 550 °C by a parabolic mirror solar plant, as heating fluid. The effects on membrane reactor performance of some operating conditions, as gas mixture residence time, reaction pressure and steam-to-carbon ratio, are assessed together with the enhancement of methane conversion with respect to the traditional process, evaluated in the range 40.5,130.9% at the same operating conditions. Moreover, owing to the use of a solar source for chemical process heat duty requirements, the greenhouse gases (GHG) reduction is estimated to be in the range 33,67%. Copyright © 2009 Curtin University of Technology and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]