skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Hollow fiber inorganic membranes for gas separations

Journal Article · · Separation Science and Technology; (United States)
 [1];  [2]
  1. Oregon State Univ., Corvallis (United States)
  2. SRI Int., Menlo Park, CA (United States)

There is increasing interest to develop high temperature, high pressure membrane technology to perform a variety of gas separations such as acid gas removal from synthetic gas streams found in coal-fired power generation systems, hydrogen recovery in petrochemical production, and CO/H{sub 2} ratio adjustment in the production of oxychemicals. Pure gas permeabilities of He, H{sub 2}, CO{sub 2}, N{sub 2}, and CO were measured for microporous silica hollow fiber membranes as a function of temperature. The transport mechanism for gas permeation is clearly non-Knudsen since several heavier gases permeate faster then lighter gases. An excellent correlation is obtained between permeability and kinetic diameter of the penetrant. The proposed mass transfer mechanism is a combination of surface diffusion and molecular sieving. High ideal separation factors (permeability ratios) are observed at 343 K for H{sub 2}/N{sub 2} and H{sub 2}/CO of 163 62.4, respectively, which compare very favorably with polymeric and molecular sieve gas separation membranes.

OSTI ID:
5221783
Journal Information:
Separation Science and Technology; (United States), Vol. 27:1; ISSN 0149-6395
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English