Membranes (Jul 2024)

Hydrogen (H<sub>2</sub>)/Toluene (TOL) Separation via One and Two Stages of the Bis(triethoxysily)ethane (BTESE) Membranes

  • Suhaina Mohd Ibrahim,
  • Xin Yu,
  • Shigeru Miyata,
  • Kengo Mishina,
  • Feridoun Salak,
  • Sulaiman Oladipo Lawal,
  • Toshinori Tsuru,
  • Ken-ichi Sawamura

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes14080165
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14, no. 8
p. 165

Abstract

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The separation ability of bis(triethoxysilyl)ethane (BTESE) membranes for hydrogen (H2) purification from hydrogen (H2)/toluene (TOL) gas mixtures after a methylcyclohexane (MCH) dehydrogenation process was investigated via one-stage and two-stage membrane processes. This study revealed that BTESE membranes of varied pore sizes (0.4, 0.5, and 0.7 nm) in a one-stage configuration can manage to achieve a H2 purity ~99.9%. However, the TOL concentrations fell within a wide range, ranging from 280 to 5441 ppm. A primary goal of this research was to lower the TOL concentration in the permeate stream below 200 ppm. Hence, by applying the two-stage membrane, it was demonstrated that the TOL concentration in the permeate stream could be lowered below 200 ppm.

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