Gas Separation by Membranes

Continuous Multicomponent Distillation Column 501 Gas Separation by Membrane Permeation 475 Transport of Heavy Metals in Water and Sediment 565 Residence Time Distribution Studies 381 Nitrification in a Fluidised Bed Reactor 547 Conversion of Nitrobenzene to Aniline 329 Non-Ideal Stirred-Tank Reactor 374 Oscillating Tank Reactor Behaviour 290 Oxidation Reaction in an Aerated Tank 250 Classic Streeter-Phelps Oxygen Sag Curves 569 Auto-Refrigerated Reactor 295 Batch Reactor of Luyben 253 Reversible Reaction with Temperature Effects 305 Reversible Reaction with Variable Heat Capacities 299 Reaction with Integrated Extraction of Inhibitory Product 280... 

Spillman, R.W. (1989) Economics of gas separation by membranes. Chemical Engineering Progress, 85, 41. 

As a general rule, gas separation by membranes is most attractive in applications where a product purity of 95% or lower is acceptable or the feed flow-rate is not too high. As the required purity approaches 100%, the membranes become less cost effective than other separation processes. This is particularly true with single-stage units. For more stringent applications, some traditional separation processes are preferred or required to integrate with the membrane system. 

During the last years increasing interest on noble gas separation by membranes is being noticed [170-172]. Hollow fiber membranes from polyimide [171], flat sheet membranes from PET or oriented polypropylene [172] were applied in the tests. 

The study of gas transport in membranes has been actively pursued for over 100 years. This extensive research resulted in the development of good theories on single gas transport in polymers and other membranes. The practical use of membranes to separate gas mixtures is, however, much more recent. One well-known application has been the separation of uranium isotopes for nuclear weapon production. With few exceptions, no new, large scale applications were introduced until the late 1970 s when polymer membranes were developed of sufficient permeability and selectivity to enable their economical industrial use. Since this development is so recent, gas separations by membranes are still less well-known and their use less widespread than other membrane applications such as reverse osmosis, ultrafiltration and microfiltration. In excellent reviews on gas transport in polymers as recent as 1983, no mention was made of the important developments of the last few years. For this reason, this chapter will concentrate on the more recent aspects of gas separation by membranes. Naturally, many of the examples cited will be from our own experience, but the general underlying principles are applicable to many membrane based gas separating systems. 

Gas separation by membranes will always have to compete with other separation processes such as cryogenics, absorption and adsorption systems. Membranes usually are less competitive in very large scale operations where the fast gas is less than about 20% of the feed gas, unless the slow gas is the desired product. Membranes also are not usually the method of choice when extremely pure product gas is required. Membranes do, however, have distinct advantages in small to medium scale operations, in situations where gas is available at pressure, in situations where high recovery is paramount, and in applications where simplicity and minimal maintenance are of prime importance (such as in remote locations). Membranes are very well suited for applications in which the non-permeate is the product of interest, since it is obtained at pressure. Examples are acid gas removal from natural gas and gas dehydration. 

Since gas separation by membranes is a relatively recent development, it is still quite common to base selectivity determinations on pure gas tests. This will sometimes give a reasonable estimate of membrane performance but can often lead to erroneous results. The reason is that in many cases one gas in a mixture will influence the transport of the other gases. Usually selectivity measured with mixtures will be lower than that obtained from pure gas measurements. 

Membrane separation processes. In Chapter 13 a detailed discussion is given of the various membrane separation processes of gas separation by membranes, dialysis, reverse osmosis, and ultrafiltration. 

Assumptions used and ideal flow patterns. In deriving theoretical models for gas separation by membranes, isothermal conditions and negligible pressure drop in the feed stream and permeate stream are generally assumed. It is also assumed that the effects of total pressure and/or composition of the gas are negligible and that the permeability of each component is constant (i.e., no interactions between different components). 

The cross-flow model for reverse osmosis is similar to that for gas separation by membranes discussed in Section 13.6. Because of the small solute concentration, the permeate side acts as if completely mixed. Hence, even if the module is designed for countercurrent or cocurrent flow, the cross-flow model is valid. This is discussed in detail elsewhere (HI). 

Gas Separation by Membranes Competition of Organic and Inorganic Membranes... 

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