Apparatus for separating condensable gas
AssigneeKabushiki Kaisha Toyota Chuo Kenkyusho
InventorsJiro Sakata, Minoru Yamamoto
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Abstract
This invention provides an apparatus for separating condensable gas, which is provided with, as a membrane for separating condensable gas, an inorganic porous membrane which has a layer having a multiplicity of micropores communicating in the thickness direction of the membrane and having a pore radius, as determined by the nitrogen absorption method, of up to 50 .ANG., and preferably up to 20 .ANG., and which has an affinity for said condensable gas or is hydrophilic. This apparatus yields highly selective permeation of condensable gas, such as water vapor or organic gases.
Claims19
An apparatus for separating a condensable gas by contacting a first surface of a membrane with a condensable gas-containing gas mixture and selectively passing said condensable gas therethrough, said apparatus comprising a hollow fiber porous glass membrane having been prepared from sodium borosilicate glass or potassium borosilicate glass, both having compositions that upon heat-treatment separate into a soft phase which leaches in high-temperature acid solution and a hard phase which does not leach in said acid solution, said soft phase having been leached with a high temperature acid solution, and said membrane being anisotropic and having a layer of a predetermined depth extending from one surface of said hollow fiber to a remaining portion of said membrane, said layer having a multiplicity of micropores with a pore radius of up to 20 .ANG. communicating in the thickness direction of said hollow fiber, the pore radius of the micropores in said layer being less than a pore radius of the micropores in said remaining portion of said membrane.
A membrane for separating condensable gas, comprising a hollow fiber porous glass membrane having been prepared from sodium borosilicate glass or potassium borosilicate glass, both having compositions that upon heat-treatment separate into a soft phase which leaches in a high-temperature acid solution and a hard phase which does not leach in said acid solution, said soft phase having been leached with a high-temperature acid solution, and said membrane being anisotropic and having a layer of a predetermined depth extending from one surface of said hollow fiber to a remaining portion of said membrane, said layer having a multiplicity of micropores with a pore radius of up to 20 .ANG. communicating in the thickness direction of said hollow fiber, the pore radius of the micropores in said layer being less than a pore of the micropores in said remaining portion of said membrane.
A process for separating condensable gas comprising:
- (a) contacting a first surface of a hollow fiber porous glass membrane for separating condensable gas with a condensable gas-containing gas mixture, said membrane having been prepared from sodium borosilicate glass or potassium borosilicate glass, both having compositions that upon heat-treatment separate into a soft phase which leaches in high-temperature acid solution and a hard phase which does not leach in said acid solution, said soft phase having been leached with a high temperature acid solution, and said membrane being anisotropic and having a layer of a predetermined depth extending from one surface of said hollow fiber to a remaining portion of said membrane, said layer having a multiplicity of micropores with a pore radius of up to 20 .ANG. communicating in the thickness direction of said hollow fiber, the pore radius of the micropores in said layer being less than a pore radius of the micropores in said remaining portion of said membrane;
- and
- (b) selectively passing said condensable gas through said porous glass membrane.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.