Separation of Air Components by Countercurrent and Co-Current Gas Permeation

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This Demonstration studies enriching the oxygen content of air with a single-stage membrane module. This problem was first treated in [1] and later in [2 and 3]. The binary mixture, (oxygen) and
(nitrogen), has an ideal separation factor
, the ratio of the permeabilities of the two species. The permeability of oxygen is
). The membrane is more permeable to oxygen and has a thickness
. The stage cut,
, is set by the user. The values of the pressures in the feed and permeate sides are chosen equal to
cmHg and
cmHg, respectively, which give a ratio of pressures,
, equal to 10. The feed rate and composition are given by
,
, and
. This Demonstration computes the reject and permeate compositions as well as the membrane area for the countercurrent and co-current flow cases.
.
Contributed by: Housam Binous (March 2011)
Open content licensed under CC BY-NC-SA
Snapshots
Details
References
[1] W. P. Walawender and S. A. Stern, "Analysis of Membrane Separation Parameters. II. Counter-Current and Cocurrent Flow in a Single Permeation Stage," Separation Science and Technology, 7(5), 1972 pp. 553–584.
[2] C. J. Geankoplis, Transport Processes and Unit Operation, 3rd ed., Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice–Hall, 1993.
[3] H. Binous, "Gas Permeation Computations with Mathematica," Chemical Engineering Education, 40(2), 2006 pp. 140–144.