Hydrogen separation with "pore-fill" type palladium membrane

The mechanical durability and thermal stability of thin Pd membranes must be improved for use in hydrogen recovery from mixed gas. A novel fabricated pore-fill type membrane, in which Pd particles fill the nano-sized pores of a supporting matrix, could improve the mechanical durability of the membrane during handling. The electroless plating conditions for the hydrogen perm-selectivity of the pore-fill type membrane were improved. The hydrogen/nitrogen selectivity increased by adding a surfactant, Triton® X-100, to the plating solution. Excellent selectivity was ascribed to the gas tightness of the pore-fill type membrane. After 100 hr of gas permeation test at 600°C, nitrogen leak did not increase, indicating that the pore-fill type Pd membrane can be applied in hydrogen separation at elevated temperatures. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 2011 AIChE Spring Meeting & 7th Global Congress on Process Safety (Chicago, IL 3/13-17/2011).