CHG 8194

MEMBRANE SEPARATION PROCESSES

Professor:

Dr. B. Kruczek

2016/02/06

Practice problems Set 2

Problem 1
For a given membrane, the following pore distribution has been determined experimentally,

9E+13
8E+13

Number of pores (/m2)

7E+13
6E+13
5E+13
4E+13
3E+13
2E+13
1E+13
0
0

10

20

30

40

Pore radius (nm)

a) Assuming that pores in this membrane are straight cylinders, what is the membrane porosity?
The above membrane is taken for the gas permeation test in a constant pressure system using nitrogen, with the feed
pressure ph = 15 atm and the permeate pressure pl = 1 atm; the test temperature T = 300K.
b)
c)
d)

If the above membrane has a thickness of 8 m, what is the total gas flux at the specified conditions?
What is the contribution of the largest pores in the total gas flux?
What is the nitrogen permeability of this membrane in Barrer?

Note: the viscosity of N2 at 300 K is 0.180 x 10-4 Pa s.

Problem 2
Polymeric membrane for air separation of thickness lM = 50 m has the permeability coefficients for carbon dioxide
and nitrogen of PMCO2 = 120 Barrer and PMN2 = 4 Barrer, respectively. However, because of a lateral stress, the
membrane has developed defects, which can be assumed to be straight cylinders with pore radius of 45 nm. It is
estimated that there are 1.0 x 107 of such defects per square meter of the membrane. For an air separation test carried
out under zero stage cut conditions, T = 300 K, feed pressure ph = 15 atm (absolute), and the permeate pressure pl =
1atm (absolute), determine:
a)
b)
c)
d)

the effective carbon dioxide permeability of the defective membrane,

the ideal selectivity (*) and the separation factor () of the defective membrane,
the composition of the permeate (yp).
Repeat your calculations for the feed pressures of 10 atm and 20 atm, and briefly discuss your results, i.e. the
effect of feed pressure on the performance of the defective membrane at zero stage cut.
e) It is proposed to laminate the defective membrane material A of thickness lL = 50 m (PLCO2 = 980 Barrer and
PLN2 = 100 Barrer). Use the two models provided below to calculate the ideal selectivity of the laminated
membrane at the feed pressure ph = 15 atm (absolute) and the permeate pressure pl = 1atm (absolute)
f) If the number of defects per square meter of the membrane is varying from 1.0 x 103 up to 1.0 x 1013, how
will the ideal selectivity change based on the two lamination models and the defective membrane? (Tip: Plot
*(CO2/N2) vs. porosity )
g) If the thickness of the laminated layer is reduced to lL = 10 m, repeat your calculation for f).
Note: feed stream contains 21% of carbon dioxide and 79% of nitrogen, i.e. xf = 0.21. The viscosities of N2 and CO2 at
300 K are 0.180 x 10-4 Pa s and 0.149 10-4 Pa s, respectively.

Defected membrane:

Laminated membrane (model 1):

Laminated membrane (model 2):

Due Date:

Feb 24, 2016 by 4 PM in Assignment box