Studying the Operation of a Membrane Module Based on Palladium Foil at High Temperatures

Abstract

The hydrogen permeability of membranes made of silver-free palladium alloys with compositions of Pd–In(6%)–Ru(0.5%), Pd–In(6%), Pd–Ru(6%), and Pd–Ru(10%) has been studied on an experimental unit, a multifunctional membrane module, the key element of which is a palladium foil positioned between the chambers for the supply (retentate) and removal (permeate) of a gas mixture. The applicability of the Sieverts equation to these systems has been experimentally proved, and the activation energies and preexponential factors for the corresponding equation have been found. It has been shown that the hydrogen permeability of the studied membranes increases by several times compared to conventional palladium membranes. A theoretical model for the transport of hydrogen through the membrane module in the absence of a pressure differential in the upper and lower chambers and arbitrary compositions of the gas mixtures under separation has been proposed. The experiments carried out within a wide range of variations in the rates of the gas in the chambers have shown the applicability of the proposed model.