Nitrogen Production by Efficiently Removing Oxygen From Air Using a Perovskite Hollow-Fiber Membrane With Porous Catalytic Layer

• Main Authors: Tianmiao Hu, Hangyue Zhou, Hui Peng, Heqing Jiang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2018-08-01
• Series: Frontiers in Chemistry
• Subjects: nitrogen production; perovskite; oxygen transport membrane; hollow-fiber; catalytic layer
• Online Access: https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fchem.2018.00329/full

Nowadays, nitrogen is mainly produced from air by cryogenic separation, pressure-swing adsorption (PSA) and polymeric membrane technology. In this paper, we report a perovskite membrane-based nitrogen production route, which is basically driven by methane combustion. By coupling air separation with methane combustion on the opposite sides of oxygen-permeable perovskite membrane, most of oxygen in air is efficiently removed through the perovskite membrane and then consumed by methane oxidation. A nitrogen production rate of ca. 23 cm3 min−1 with purity of 98–99% was successfully achieved, and remained stable over 120 h, with a methane conversion of 71–73% on the other side of perovskite membrane. This work demonstrates that the joint use of oxygen-permeable perovskite membrane and methane oxidation is a promising strategy for nitrogen production and inspires more research efforts in the field of gas separation.