High temperature separation membrane for gases

Principal investigator: Elisa Mercadelli

Involved personnel: Angela Gondolini, Alessandra Sanson, Alex Sangiorgi, Paola Pinasco

Gas separation membranes are electrochemical devices that allows the separation of specific components contained in gas streams at high temperatures (500-800°C). These systems can be classified on the bases of the materials used as:

  • Oxygen separation membranes
  • Hydrogen separation membranes
  • CO2 separation membranes

These devices are ceramics or ceramic-metallic bilayers constituted of a supporting element and an active layer. Separation membranes are produced at CNR-ISTEC starting from commercial or synthesized powders by tape casting, screen printing or additive manufacturing techniques. Substrates and active layers are developed with different compositions:

    • La0.6Sr0.4Fe0.8Co0.2O3 (LSCF), La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 / Ce0.8Gd0.2O2,(LSM-GDC) for O2 separation;
    • NiO/ Ba(Ce,Y,Zr)O3, Ba(YCe)O3, NiO/ Ba(Ce,Y,Zr)O3 and mixture with (Ce,Gd)O2 for H2 separation.

Products with diameter up to 5 cm are obtained after a careful optimization of the suspension and thermal treatment needed to reach a suitable microstructure for the required application.
The as-produced bilayers are generally sintered via co-firing. For this purpose a great attention is given to the sintering behavior of each layer that, even subjected to the same heat treatment, must satisfy two different requirements: a suitable porosity of the supporting element and an high density of the active layer.

Equipment and processes

Tape casting, Screen printing, Additive manufacturing.

Hydrogen separation membrane microstructure and working principle
Hydrogen separation membrane microstructure and working principle

Main partners

Projects

Publications

  • Mercadelli E, Gondolini A, Montaleone D, Pinasco P, Escolástico S, Serra JM, Sanson A. Production strategies of asymmetric BaCe0.65Zr0.20Y0.15O3-δ – Ce0.8Gd0.2O2-δ membrane for hydrogen separation. Int. J. Hydrog. En. 2019, in press.
  • Montaleone D, Mercadelli E, Escolàstico S, Gondolini A, Serra JM, Sanson A. All-ceramic asymmetric membranes with superior hydrogen permeation. J. Mater. Chem. A. 2018; 6:15718.
  • D. Montaleone, E. Mercadelli, A. Gondolini, P. Pinasco, A. Sanson “On the compatibility of dual phase BaCe0.65Zr0.2Y0.15O3-based membrane for hydrogen separation application” Ceramics International 43 [13] (2017) 10151-10157.
  • E. Mercadelli, D. Montaleone, A. Gondolini, P. Pinasco, A. Sanson “Tape-cast asymmetric membranes for hydrogen separation” Ceramics International 43 [11] (2017) 8010-8017.