Engineering Scale-up for Hydrogen Transport Membranes

An example of a commercial membrane module is shovm in Fig. 5.1. This membrane module utilizes multiple foil membranes of Pd-40Cu (40 wt% Cu) to 

This chapter will address the special considerations that apply to incorporating dense, hydrogen-permeable metal membranes into practical membrane modules for commercial and industrial use. It is organized to present a brief historical overview, a general review of hydrogen-permeable metal membranes, scale-up from laboratory test-and-evaluation membrane modules to commercial membrane modules, membrane module design and construction, and commercial applicability. 

General Review of Hydrogen-permeable Metal Membranes and Module Design 

For reasons of convenience and economy, laboratory-scale test-and-evaluation membranes are often relatively small in size, less than 5 cm (1 inch diameter) being quite common and in some cases as small as 0.3 cm to 0.4 cm. These test-and-evaluation membranes are almost always circular in shape and sized to fit into a permeation test cell. Membranes that are only 0.3 cm to 0.4 cm in area are sized to fit into a standard Vt inch (6.35 mm) commercial face-seal compression fitting. Although convenience figures prominently in the design of laboratory test apparatus, it is not a dominant design criterion for commercial and industrial applications where economics and durabiUty are of primary importance. 

As discussed elsewhere in this text, there are two types of dense, hydrogen-permeable metal membranes to consider from the perspective of module scale-up and design thin metal foils and permselective metal layers formed on a porous support. Another class of hydrogen-permeable inorganic membranes - dense proton-conducting ceramic membranes - are still under development and are addressed in Chapter 2. 

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Edlund DJ. Engineering scale-up for hydrogen transport membranes. In SammeUs AF, Mundschau MV, editors. Weinheim, Germany Wiley-VCH 2006. pp. 139-64. 

This chapter reviews some fundamental science critical for the understanding, development and operation of many classes of dense composite inorganic membrane used for transport of hydrogen. A companion paper follows in this volume discussing some of the engineering issues of membrane scale-up. 

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