Modeling of hydrogen separation through porous YSZ hollow fiber‐supported graphene oxide membrane

Abstract

In this work, hydrogen (H2) permeation fluxes through 230 nm‐thick graphene oxide (GO) membrane deposited on porous YSZ hollow fiber were measured and correlated to an explicit H2 permeation model. H2 fluxes through such GO‐YSZ hollow fiber membrane increased from 4.83 × 10−8 mol cm−2 s−1 to 2.11 × 10−7 mol cm−2 s−1 with temperature rise from 20 to 100 °C. The activation energy of H2 permeation was determined by the linear regression of the experimental data and was applied in the theoretical calculations. The model predictions fit well the temperature dependent and the argon sweep gas flow rate dependent H2 fluxes data. Using the derived permeation model, the effects of vacuum pressure at lumen side and H2 partial pressure at shell side, membrane area, and GO membrane film thickness on the membrane performance were simulated and discussed to provide insights for practical applications. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 64: 2711–2720, 2018