Microsieve supporting palladium-silver alloy membrane and application to hydrogen separation

Author

Tong, Hien Duy ; Gielens, F.C. ; Gardeniers, J.G.E. ; Jansen, Henri V. ; Berenschot, J.W. ; De Boer, Meint J. ; de Boer, J.H. ; Van Rijn, Cees J M ; Elwenspoek, Miko C.

Author_Institution

MESA+ Res. Inst. for Nanotechnol., Univ. of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands

Volume

14

Issue

1

fYear

2005

Firstpage

113

Lastpage

124

Abstract

A submicron thick and defect-free palladium-silver (Pd-Ag) alloy membrane is fabricated on a supporting microsieve by using microfabrication techniques. The microfabrication process also creates a robust wafer-scale membrane module, which can easily be inserted into a membrane holder to have gas-tight connections to the outer world. The microfabricated membrane demonstrated high separation fluxes of up to 4 mol H₂/m²·s with a minimal selectivity of 1500 for hydrogen over helium (H₂/He) at 450°C and 83 kPa H₂ retentate pressure. The present membrane has great potential for hydrogen purification and in applications like dehydrogenation chemistry. In addition, the presented technology can be used to fabricate other kinds of ultrathin but strong and defect-free membranes to set up new applications.

Keywords

hydrogen; membranes; microfluidics; microvalves; palladium alloys; silver alloys; H₂; PdAg; SiN microsieves; dehydrogenation chemistry; gas-tight connections; hydrogen separation; membrane reactor; microfabrication technology; palladium-silver alloy membrane; wafer-scale membrane module; Biomembranes; Chemical industry; Chemical technology; Chemistry; Fossil fuels; Fuel processing industries; Hydrogen; Petroleum; Production; Purification;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microelectromechanical Systems, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1057-7157

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JMEMS.2004.839005

Filename

1390942