I.

Introduction

4

II.

Experimental Setup

7

2.1

Permeability measurement installation

7

2.2

Membrane reactor installation

7

III.

Porous Glass Membranes

9

3.1

Molecular-sieve glass membrane

9

3.1.1

Gas Concentration in molecular-sieve glass membrane

9

3.1.2

Diffusion coefficients

10

3.1.3

Permeability coefficients

11

3.1.4

Activation energy of diffusion

14

3.1.5

Selectivity coefficients

15

3.1.6

Thermal Stability

15

3.2

Vycor glass membrane

16

3.2.1

Thermal Stability

16

3.2.2

Gas Permeability and selectivity

17

IV.

Thermodynamics of H₂S Decomposition

19

4.1

Equilibrium conversion of H₂S

19

4.2

Pressure drop in packed beds

20

4.3

H2S conversion in the packed bed reactor

20

4.3.1

Flow rate dependence

20

4.3.2

Temperature dependence

21

4.3.3

Pressure dependence

21

4.4

Catalytic activity of the porous Vycor glass membrane

21

4.5

Kinetics of H₂S decomposition

22

V.

Decomposition of H₂S in Membrane Reactor

23

5.1

Definition of stage cut

23

5.2

Decomposition of H2S in the membrane reactor

24

5.3

Mathematical model of H2S decomposition in the membrane reactor

24

5.4

Simulation results

29

5.4.1

Hydrogen concentration in the membrane reactor

29

5.4.2

Partial pressure of hydrogen in the membrane reactor

31

5.4.3

The total conversion in the membrane reactor

32

5.4.4

Pressure dependence of the conversion in the membrane reactor

33

5.5

Comparison between cocurrent and countercurrent modes

34

5.6

Optimum conditions for H2S decomposition

35

5.7

Comparison of the packed bed and membrane reactors

37

VI.

Conclusions

40

VII.

Recommendations

42

7.1

Molecular-sieve glass membranes

42

7.2

Membrane reactor

42