Oxygen permeability and stability of BaCe0.1Co0.4Fe0.5O3−δ oxygen permeable membrane

Direct AC/DC Heating of Oxygen Transport Membranes

This article is devoted to the development of the direct resistive heating of oxygen transport membranes technique. In this case, DC was selected to perform direct heating. The effect of DC on the oxygen fluxes and the microstructure of the membrane was studied. It is shown that in the short-term experiment with DC, a positive significant effect on the oxygen transport was found, while sample exposure under the influence of DC for a long period of time had a significant negative effect on the microstructure of the membrane.

Microstructural and Interfacial Designs of Oxygen-Permeable Membranes for Oxygen Separation and Reaction-Separation Coupling

Mixed ionic-electronic conducting oxygen-permeable membranes can rapidly separate oxygen from air with 100% selectivity and low energy consumption. Combining reaction and separation in an oxygen-permeable membrane reactor significantly simplifies the technological scheme and reduces the process energy consumption. Recently, materials design and mechanism investigations have provided insight into the microstructural and interfacial effects. The microstructures of the membrane surfaces and bulk are closely related to the interfacial oxygen exchange kinetics and bulk diffusion kinetics. Therefore, the permeability and stability of oxygen-permeable membranes with a single-phase structure and a dual-phase structure can be adjusted through their microstructural and interfacial designs. Here, recent advances in the development of oxygen permeation models that provide a deep understanding of the microstructural and interfacial effects, and strategies to simultaneously improve the permeability and stability through microstructural and interfacial design are discussed in detail. Then, based on the developed high-performance membranes, highly effective membrane reactors for process intensification and new technology developments are highlighted. The new membrane reactors will trigger innovations in natural gas conversion, ammonia synthesis, and hydrogen-related clean energy technologies. Future opportunities and challenges in the development of oxygen-permeable membranes for oxygen separation and reaction-separation coupling are also explored.

Enhancing Oxygen Permeation via the Incorporation of Silver Inside Perovskite Oxide Membranes

As a possible novel cost-effective method for oxygen production from air separation, ion-conducting ceramic membranes are becoming a hot research topic due to their potentials in clean energy and environmental processes. Oxygen separation via these ion-conducting membranes is completed via the bulk diffusion and surface reactions with a typical example of perovskite oxide membranes. To improve the membrane performance, silver (Ag) deposition on the membrane surface as the catalyst is a good strategy. However, the conventional silver coating method has the problem of particle aggregation, which severely lowers the catalytic efficiency. In this work, the perovskite oxide La0.8Ca0.2Fe0.94O3−a (LCF) and silver (5% by mole) composite (LCFA) as the membrane starting material was synthesized using one-pot method via the wet complexation where the metal and silver elements were sourced from their respective nitrate salts. LCFA hollow fiber membrane was prepared and comparatively investigated for air separation together with pure LCF hollow fiber membrane. Operated from 800 to 950 °C under sweep gas mode, the pure LCF membrane displayed the fluxes from 0.04 to 0.54 mL min−1 cm−2. Compared to pure LCF, under similar operating conditions, the flux of LCFA membrane was improved by 160%.

Influence of the interfacial phase on the structural integrity and oxygen permeability of a dual-phase membrane

Compositing fluorite Ce0.8Gd0.2O2-δ (CGO) oxide with perovskite La0.4Ba0.6Fe0.8Zn0.2O3-δ (LBFZ) oxide leads to the formation of a minor interfacial BaCeO3 phase upon sintering at 1400 °C. This interfacial composition assures a gastight ceramic membrane with fine grain-boundary structure, in which the LBFZ phase exhibits an improved oxygen permeability over the pristine LBFZ membrane on the same volumetric basis. The presence of the BaCeO3 phase effectively preserves the structural integrity of the composition by limiting the interfacial diffusion of barium ions between LBFZ and CGO. In comparison, replacing CGO with Y0.08Zr0.92O2-δ in the system results in a substantially low oxygen flux due to an overwhelming interfacial diffusion and, consequently, a heavy degradation of LBFZ. Besides structural reinforcement, the high interface between LBFZ and CGO benefits oxygen transport, as is proven through variation of the oxygen partial pressure on the feed side of the membrane and operation temperature. Furthermore, the trade-off between LBFZ loading and interfacial diffusion yields an optimal CGO loading at 40 wt %, which exhibits an oxygen flux of 0.84 cm(3)/cm(2)·min at 950 °C. In summary, the minor interfacial binding between CGO and LBFZ grains is constructive in easing oxygen crossover in the phase boundary with the exception of maintaining membrane structural stability under oxygen permeation conditions.