Performance and Long-Term Stability of Pd/PSS and Pd/Al(2)O(3) Membranes for Hydrogen Separation

The present work is focused on the investigation of the performance and long-term stability of two composite palladium membranes under different operating conditions. One membrane (Pd/porous stainless steel (PSS)) is characterized by a ~10 µm-thick palladium layer on a porous stainless steel substrate, which is pretreated by means of surface modification and oxidation; the other membrane (Pd/Al(2)O(3)) is constituted by a ~7 µm-thick palladium layer on an asymmetric microporous Al(2)O(3) substrate. The operating temperature and pressure ranges, used for studying the performance of these two kinds of membranes, are 350–450 °C and 200–800 kPa, respectively. The H(2) permeances and the H(2)/N(2) selectivities of both membranes were investigated and compared with literature data. At 400 °C and 200 kPa as pressure difference, Pd/PSS and Pd/Al(2)O(3) membranes exhibited an H(2)/N(2) ideal selectivity equal to 11700 and 6200, respectively, showing stability for 600 h. Thereafter, H(2)/N(2) selectivity of both membranes progressively decreased and after around 2000 h, dropped dramatically to 55 and 310 for the Pd/PSS and Pd/Al(2)O(3) membranes, respectively. As evidenced by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analyses, the pinholes appear on the whole surface of the Pd/PSS membrane and this is probably due to release of sulphur from the graphite seal rings.