Feasibility study of gas separation membranes for biohydrogen separation

Abstract

Hydrogen is considered as a promising clean energy carrier that could replace fossil fuels. It can be produced by several ways including biological processes which are definitely environmental-safe methods. Unfortunately, the concentration of hydrogen in the gas mixture obtained during the fermentation process is not high enough for direct utilization (e.g. in fuel cells) since there are other gases (mainly carbon-dioxide) present as a result of the microbial activity. In this work concentration of biohydrogen by gas separation membranes were aimed to study. Two different membrane modules were tested in order to obtain pure hydrogen. The permeabilities and selectivities for both membranes were determined by single gas experiments and the feasibility of the membranes for biohydrogen separation was discussed.