A new membrane module design with disc geometry for the separation of hydrogen using Pd alloy membranes

A plate-and-flame type hydrogen purification membrane module was newly designed and constructed to provide easy assembly using a knife-edge sealing method instead of thermal bonding methods such as brazing, soldering and welding (diffusion bonding). The membrane module is comprised of a housing and a plurality of membrane unit cells. With the developed membrane module, several hydrogen permeable metal membranes can be easily coupled to each other by fittings and the size of the hydrogen purification module can be easily controlled. Two membranes were assembled in one membrane unit cell to verify that the knife-edge sealing could be applied to the membrane gas-tightness and it could be operated properly at a temperature of 773 K and feed side pressure of 0.276 MPa. A hydrogen permeation test and durability test with several repeated temperature cycles were carried out and it was found that the hydrogen permeation flux remained constant after five cycles of alternate gas feed and temperature.