Work

Membrane gas separations and energy efficiency: Exploring the selective membrane-piston concept

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: • Membrane Piston is a transient process for simultaneous gas compression and separation. • This new process shows promising results to significantly reduce energy consumption. • It achieves nitrogen purity levels from air exceeding 95 %. A new process call Membrane Piston is proposed to investigate the possible energy efficiency improvement by combining compression and gas separation under unsteady state. The membrane on the piston-head acts as a permeable moving barrier between the two compartments. The movement of the membrane initiates the compression, triggering the mass transfer. The decreasing amount of substance at high pressure leads to lower work requirement. A model based on mass and energy balances provides the temporal evolution of the parameters. This new concept is presented through an air separation case study, operated in isothermal and non-isothermal modes. Compared to a steady-state classical membrane separation at identical purity in N 2 and pressure ratio, this process shows breakthrough energy efficiency improvements, such as 33 to 63 % decrease for 95 to 97 % N 2 purity.

Source: Journal of Membrane Science Letters

DOI: 10.1016/j.memlet.2024.100091

Authors: Mathilde Lafont, Christophe Castel, Romain Privat, Eric Favre

Institutions: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire Réactions et Génie des Procédés, Université de Lorraine

Language: English

Topic: Membrane Separation and Gas Transport

Subfield: Mechanical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Affordable and clean energy

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,310