Investigation of mass transfer through inorganic membranes with several layers

Hydrogen Separation by Natural Zeolite Composite Membranes: Single and Multicomponent Gas Transport

Single and multicomponent gas permeation tests were used to evaluate the performance of metal-supported clinoptilolite membranes. The efficiency of hydrogen separation from lower hydrocarbons (methane, ethane, and ethylene) was studied within the temperature and pressure ranges of 25-600 °C and 110-160 kPa, respectively. The hydrogen separation factor was found to reduce noticeably in the gas mixture compared with single gas experiments at 25 °C. The difference between the single and multicomponent gas results decreased as the temperature increased to higher than 300 °C, which is when the competitive adsorption-diffusion mechanism was replaced by Knudsen diffusion or activated diffusion mechanisms. To evaluate the effect of gas adsorption, the zeolite surface isotherms of each gas in the mixture were obtained from 25 °C to 600 °C. The results indicated negligible adsorption of individual gases at temperatures higher than 300 °C. Increasing the feed pressure resulted in a higher separation efficiency for the individual gases compared with the multicomponent mixture, due to the governing effect of the adsorptive mechanism. This study provides valuable insight into the application of natural zeolites for the separation of hydrogen from a mixture of hydrocarbons.

A study of CO2/CO separation by sub-micron b-oriented MFI membranes

CO₂/CO separation is challenging. Here we report high-flux MFI membranes for effective CO₂removal from CO by selective CO₂adsorption in the MFI. On top, diffusional coupling at high CO₂loadings reduce the CO transport favouring CO₂/CO selectivity.

Hierarchy in inorganic membranes

Inorganic membranes usually possess an unsymmetrical cross section showing a hierarchical structure: the ZIF-8 separation layer is deposited on a graded titania support.

Asymmetric gas mixture transport in composite membranes

The asymmetry effects in gas and electrolyte transport through composite membranes are considered. The interrelation between the kinetic theory and non-equilibrium thermodynamics description of gas mixture transport in channels is discussed. The kinetic expressions for transport and slip coefficients are given. The effect of surface forces on gas transport is discussed. A set of general equations related to gas mixture flows in capillaries and porous media is deduced. The nano-size effects in gas flows are outlined. The theoretical analysis of one-way flow effect and asymmetric separation properties of a two-layer porous membrane is given.

Supercritical fluids in porous composite materials: direction-dependent flow properties

The results of extensive nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations of flow and transport of a pure fluid, as well as a binary fluid mixture, through a porous material composed of a macropore, a mesopore, and a nanopore, in the presence of an external pressure gradient, are reported. We find that under supercritical conditions, unusual phenomena occur that give rise to direction-dependent and pressure-dependent permeabilities for the fluids' components. The results, which are also in agreement with a continuum formulation of the problem, indicate that the composite nature of the material, coupled with condensation, give rise to the direction-dependent permeabilities. Therefore, modeling flow and transport of fluids, in the supercritical regime, in porous materials with the type of morphology considered in this paper (such as supported porous membranes) would require using effective permeabilities that depend on both the external pressure drop and the direction along which it is applied to the materials.