Permeation of H2, N2, He and SF6 in real MFI membranes

This work shows that a previously developed model for single gas permeation in real MFI membranes is applicable to an arbitrary MFI membrane with a different film thickness and defect distribution. The model can predict the flow of H-2, N-2, and He resonably. Deviations in SF6 flux for thick and oriented films were observed and attributed to a lower diffusion coefficient for the narrower pores in the a-direction of the MFI crystals. By guidance from the model, variations in previously reported single gas permeance ratios for selected membranes can now be attributed to variations in feed pressure, film thickness preferred orientation and defect distribution. It was found that high feed pressures and thick oriented films resulted in large single gas permeance ratios with SF6 in the denominator, even though these membranes were more defective than thinner membranes with more randomly oriented crystals. In general, single gas permeance ratios are strongly dependent on material properties and experimental conditions. These ratios can only be used for comparison of membranes with similar morphology and the ratios must be measured under identical conditions. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.