High-temperature furnace having selectively permeable membranes for oxygen enrichment

A high-temperature furnace comprising:

• a combustion chamber having a burner for burning a mixture of air and fuel therein and an exhaust outlet for exhausting emissions therefrom to the outside;
• a plurality of longitudinally extending, transversely spaced cells to form air passageways therebetween, each of said cells comprising a pair of transversely spaced-apart oxygen permeable membranes for selectively passing oxygen molecules from air in said air passageways to said cells so that the gaseous mixture in said cells is oxygen-enriched air, said air passageways having upstream ends and downstream ends;
• conduit means connected from downstream ends of said cells to said burner;
• first means for forcibly generating airstreams in said air passageways in a direction from said upstream ends to said downstream ends;
• second means in said conduit means for generating a negative pressure in said cells with respect to said air passageways to cause said oxygen-enriched air to flow forcibly to said burner;
• and
• first air-pressure regulating means connected to said conduit means at a point downstream of said second means for discharging pressure-regulated air to the outside, and second air-pressure regulating means connected to said conduit means at a point downstream of said first air-pressure regulating means for introducing outside air to said conduit means.