A decade's study and developments of palladium membrane in Taiwan

Research on palladium membrane was started in 1995 by China Technology Consultants Institute (CTCI), Taiwan; there are now more than four groups engaging in various aspects of study and development of palladium membrane and Green Hydrotec Inc. is running fabrication and application of the membrane for commercial development. The author reviews recent discovery in the permeation of hydrogen mixture by palladium membrane in his group. Their main discoveries are (1) new method of preparing strong palladium membrane by electroplating, (2) a new method of measuring hydrogen permeation in the case of mixture to avoid changing hydrogen concentration along the membrane tube, (3) the perturbed hydrogen permeation in the permeation of hydrogen mixture with palladium membrane due to palladium lattice expansion during permeation, (4) the effect of hydrogen spillover on the catalytic membrane reactor to account for the rate enhancement and the hike of reaction conversion when a palladium membrane is incorporated into the catalytic reactor, and (5) production of hydrogen by a 3-in-1 membrane reactor.