Hydrogen palladium-based membrane integration

Integration of Palladium-based Membranes in Hydrogen Production... 

Franz et al. [93] developed a palladium membrane micro reactor for hydrogen separation based on MEMS technology, which incorporated integrated devices for heating and temperature measurement. The reactor consisted of two channels separated by the membrane, which was composed of three layers. Two of them, which were made of silicon nitride introduced by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (0.3 pm thick) and silicon oxide by temperature treatment (0.2 pm thick), served as perforated supports for the palladium membrane. Both layers were deposited on a silicon wafer and subsequently removed from one side completely... 

The design of the Pd-membrane reactor was based on the chip design of reactor [R 10]. The membrane is a composite of three layers, silicon nitride, silicon oxide and palladium. The first two layers are perforated and function as structural support for the latter. They serve also for electrical insulation of the Pd film from the integrated temperature-sensing and heater element. The latter is needed to set the temperature as one parameter that determines the hydrogen flow. 

Research on separation of hydrogen isotopes is focused on the aspects related to safe operation of nuclear reactors and separation of tritium. Apart from separators based on palladium alloys [142-145], one can find catalytic units with different metallic membranes and various types of integrated systems with catalytic ceramic reactors [146-154]. 

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