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Membranes
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Elucidating Mass Transfer Processes in Membranes for Gas Separation
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Elucidating Mass Transfer Processes in Membranes for Gas Separation

A special issue of Membranes (ISSN 2077-0375). This special issue belongs to the section "Membrane Processing and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2022) | Viewed by 9496

Special Issue Editors

Dr. David Alique

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical, Energy and Mechanical Technology, Rey Juan Carlos University, C/Tulipán s/n, 28933 Móstoles, Spain
Interests: hydrogen production; process intensification; palladium; supported membranes; membrane reactor
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. David Martinez-Diaz

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Applied Mathematics, Materials Science and Engineering and Electronic Technology; Rey Juan Carlos University, C/ Tulipán s/n, 28933 Móstoles, Spain
Interests: gas separation; palladium-membrane; membrane reactors; hydrogen production; composite materials

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Membrane technology has been receiving a great deal of attention in recent decades for its potential to improve both the efficiency and economy of separation processes in multiple industrial applications. Membranes are typically applied to downstream independent devices or so-called membrane reactors, in which a real process intensification can be reached by combining both membranes and catalytic reactions in the same unit. In both cases, a wide variety of materials can be used to prepare highly selective membranes to extract or dose key components through different permeation mechanisms. It is also very common to prepare composite membranes in which the structure of the permeable barrier is made of multiple stacked layers with different morphological properties and, hence, different permeation mechanisms. In these cases, it is also common to find diverse explanations aiming to describe the precise mass transfer processes that justify the permeation behavior of the systems, especially at certain operating conditions. In this context, it is crucial to unravel all the involved mass transfer processes with the aim to improve the design of the separation systems and to develop a new generation of membranes. 

The current Special Issue is dedicated to this particular topic in the field of gas separation applications. Thus, we are pleased to invite you to participate with your latest research and share the most recent insights to describe mass transfer processes through new membrane materials, including both porous and dense ones. Both original research manuscripts and reviews covering this particular topic are welcome. Research areas may include but not be limited to experimental or modeling studies, new complex membrane structures, novel membrane materials, and critical permeation conditions.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. David Alique
Dr. David Martinez-Diaz
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Membranes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • membrane technology
  • composite membranes
  • mass-transfer processes
  • separation mechanisms
  • gas separation
  • permeation modelling
  • computer fluid dynamics
  • hydrogen
  • carbon capture

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 2776 KiB  
Article
Tuning the Gas Separation Performances of Smectic Liquid Crystalline Polymer Membranes by Molecular Engineering
by Joey Kloos, Menno Houben, Johan Lub, Kitty Nijmeijer, Albert P. H. J. Schenning and Zandrie Borneman
Membranes 2022, 12(8), 805; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12080805 - 20 Aug 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1769
Abstract
The effect of layer spacing and halogenation on the gas separation performances of free-standing smectic LC polymer membranes is being investigated by molecular engineering. LC membranes with various layer spacings and halogenated LCs were fabricated while having a planar aligned smectic morphology. Single [...] Read more.
The effect of layer spacing and halogenation on the gas separation performances of free-standing smectic LC polymer membranes is being investigated by molecular engineering. LC membranes with various layer spacings and halogenated LCs were fabricated while having a planar aligned smectic morphology. Single permeation and sorption data show a correlation between gas diffusion and layer spacing, which results in increasing gas permeabilities with increasing layer spacing while the ideal gas selectivity of He over CO2 or He over N2 decreases. The calculated diffusion coefficients show a 6-fold increase when going from membranes with a layer spacing of 31.9 Å to membranes with a layer spacing of 45.2 Å, demonstrating that the layer spacing in smectic LC membranes mainly affects the diffusion of gasses rather than their solubility. A comparison of gas sorption and permeation performances of smectic LC membranes with and without halogenated LCs shows only a limited effect of LC halogenation by a slight increase in both solubility and diffusion coefficients for the membranes with halogenated LCs, resulting in a slightly higher gas permeation and increased ideal gas selectivities towards CO2. These results show that layer spacing plays an important role in the gas separation performances of smectic LC polymer membranes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Elucidating Mass Transfer Processes in Membranes for Gas Separation)
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22 pages, 7581 KiB  
Article
Versatile and Resistant Electroless Pore-Plated Pd-Membranes for H2-Separation: Morphology and Performance of Internal Layers in PSS Tubes
by David Martinez-Diaz, Valeria Michienzi, José Antonio Calles, Raúl Sanz, Alessio Caravella and David Alique
Membranes 2022, 12(5), 530; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12050530 - 18 May 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1806
Abstract
Pd-membranes are interesting in multiple ultra-pure hydrogen production processes, although they can suffer inhibition by certain species or abrasion under fluidization conditions in membrane reactors, thus requiring additional protective layers to ensure long and stable operation. The ability to incorporate intermediate and palladium [...] Read more.
Pd-membranes are interesting in multiple ultra-pure hydrogen production processes, although they can suffer inhibition by certain species or abrasion under fluidization conditions in membrane reactors, thus requiring additional protective layers to ensure long and stable operation. The ability to incorporate intermediate and palladium films with enough adherence on both external and internal surfaces of tubular porous supports becomes crucial to minimize their complexity and cost. This study addresses the incorporation of CeO2 and Pd films onto the internal side of PSS tubes for applications in which further protection could be required. The membranes so prepared, with a Pd-thickness around 12–15 μm, show an excellent mechanical resistance and similar performance to those prepared on the external surface. A good fit to Sieverts’ law with an H2-permeance of 4.571 × 10−3 mol m−2 s−1 Pa−0.5 at 400 °C, activation energy around 15.031 kJ mol−1, and complete ideal perm-selectivity was observed. The permeate fluxes reached in H2 mixtures with N2, He, or CO2 decreased with dilution and temperature due to the inherent concentration-polarization. The presence of CO in mixtures provoked a higher decrease because of a further inhibition effect. However, the original flux was completely recovered after feeding again with pure hydrogen, maintaining stable operation for at least 1000 h. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Elucidating Mass Transfer Processes in Membranes for Gas Separation)
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14 pages, 364 KiB  
Article
An Enhanced Sherwood Number to Model the Hydrogen Transport in Membrane Steam Reformers
by Maria Anna Murmura, Chiara Rocchetti and Maria Cristina Annesini
Membranes 2021, 11(11), 805; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11110805 - 22 Oct 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1754
Abstract
It is well known that membrane reactors are inherently two-dimensional systems in which species concentrations vary as a consequence of both the reaction and permeation across the membrane, which occurs in the direction perpendicular to that of the main gas flow. Recently, an [...] Read more.
It is well known that membrane reactors are inherently two-dimensional systems in which species concentrations vary as a consequence of both the reaction and permeation across the membrane, which occurs in the direction perpendicular to that of the main gas flow. Recently, an expression for an enhanced Sherwood number was developed to describe the hydrogen concentration gradients arising in methane steam-reforming membrane reactors as a consequence of the combined effect of hydrogen production, dispersion, and permeation. Here, the analysis is developed in further detail with the aim of (i) assessing the validity of the simplifying assumptions made when developing the 1D model and (ii) identifying the operating conditions under which it is possible to employ the 1D model with the enhanced Sherwood number. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Elucidating Mass Transfer Processes in Membranes for Gas Separation)
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Review

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46 pages, 7065 KiB  
Review
Challenges, Opportunities and Future Directions of Membrane Technology for Natural Gas Purification: A Critical Review
by Aniqa Imtiaz, Mohd Hafiz Dzarfan Othman, Asim Jilani, Imran Ullah Khan, Roziana Kamaludin, Javed Iqbal and Abdullah G. Al-Sehemi
Membranes 2022, 12(7), 646; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12070646 - 23 Jun 2022
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3583
Abstract
Natural gas is an important and fast-growing energy resource in the world and its purification is important in order to reduce environmental hazards and to meet the required quality standards set down by notable pipeline transmission, as well as distribution companies. Therefore, membrane [...] Read more.
Natural gas is an important and fast-growing energy resource in the world and its purification is important in order to reduce environmental hazards and to meet the required quality standards set down by notable pipeline transmission, as well as distribution companies. Therefore, membrane technology has received great attention as it is considered an attractive option for the purification of natural gas in order to remove impurities such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen sulphide (H2S) to meet the usage and transportation requirements. It is also recognized as an appealing alternative to other natural gas purification technologies such as adsorption and cryogenic processes due to its low cost, low energy requirement, easy membrane fabrication process and less requirement for supervision. During the past few decades, membrane-based gas separation technology employing hollow fibers (HF) has emerged as a leading technology and underwent rapid growth. Moreover, hollow fiber (HF) membranes have many advantages including high specific surface area, fewer requirements for maintenance and pre-treatment. However, applications of hollow fiber membranes are sometimes restricted by problems related to their low tensile strength as they are likely to get damaged in high-pressure applications. In this context, braid reinforced hollow fiber membranes offer a solution to this problem and can enhance the mechanical strength and lifespan of hollow fiber membranes. The present review includes a discussion about different materials used to fabricate gas separation membranes such as inorganic, organic and mixed matrix membranes (MMM). This review also includes a discussion about braid reinforced hollow fiber (BRHF) membranes and their ability to be used in natural gas purification as they can tackle high feed pressure and aggressive feeds without getting damaged or broken. A BRHF membrane possesses high tensile strength as compared to a self-supported membrane and if there is good interfacial bonding between the braid and the separation layer, high tensile strength, i.e., upto 170Mpa can be achieved, and due to these factors, it is expected that BRHF membranes could give promising results when used for the purification of natural gas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Elucidating Mass Transfer Processes in Membranes for Gas Separation)
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