An inert gas generating system includes a source of a liquid hydrocarbon fuel, and a fractioning unit configured to receive a portion of the liquid hydrocarbon fuel from the source. The fractioning unit includes a perm-selective membrane configured to separate the portion of the liquid hydrocarbon fuel into substantially sulfur-free vapors and a sulfur-containing remainder. The system further includes a catalytic oxidation unit configured to receive and react the substantially sulfur-free vapors to produce an inert gas.

Composite structures composed of inorganic membranes or polymer membranes supported on a multilayered woven wire mesh substrate are provided. Also provided are methods of making the composite structures and methods of using the composite structures as separation membranes. The mesh substrates are composed of a stack of two or more layers of woven wire mesh, wherein the different mesh layers in the stack have different mesh sizes. The multilayered mesh structure can support a defect-free, or substantially defect-free, membrane and has sufficient mechanical strength to allow the supported membranes to be used for chemical separations.

An inert gas generating system includes a source of a liquid hydrocarbon fuel, and a fractioning unit configured to receive a portion of the liquid hydrocarbon fuel from the source. The fractioning unit includes a perm-selective membrane configured to separate the portion of the liquid hydrocarbon fuel into substantially sulfur-free vapors and a sulfur-containing remainder. The system further includes a catalytic oxidation unit configured to receive and react the substantially sulfur-free vapors to produce an inert gas.

Described herein is a graphene material such as graphene oxide and polymer based selectively permeable element that provides selective permeability between polar and non-polar molecules such as fluid, gas or vapor. The methods for making these selectively permeable elements and related devices are also described.

An air-impermeable water vapor transport membrane comprises an active layer on a microporous polymeric substrate. The active layer comprises a polyethylene-oxide containing copolymer and a polar protic solvent in an amount of about 3% to about 100% of copolymer weight in the active layer. Molecules of the protic solvent are bonded to the copolymer. The polar protic solvent reduces temperature-dependent variability in the water-vapor permeability of the membrane.

A system 1 for the purification of an organic solvent, preferably an alcohol, comprising a first distillation column 10, a second distillation column 20, a vapor permeation unit 30 suitable for the dehydration of an organic solvent, wherein the system 1 further comprises a first heat integration sub-system 100 for exploiting both a sensible heat and optionally a latent heat, a second and a third heat integration sub-systems 200 and 300 for exploiting a latent heat, and wherein there is either a parallel configuration of the system 1 with a split feeding into both the first and the second distillation columns 10 and 20, or there is a series configuration of the system 1 in which there is feeding into only the first distillation column 10.

The present invention pertains to a pervaporation membrane process for the separation of high octane fuel components from a gasoline feed stream comprising feeding a mixed phase vapor-liquid feed to a cyclone separation means to separate the liquid from the vapor, then sending the saturated vapor to the membrane, thereby extending the useful life of the membrane.

A humidification device is provided with at least one stacked unit of water vapor-permeable membranes and of support frames. The support frames are stacked on each other. The membranes each are positioned between two of the support frames, respectively, and have edges clamped between the two support frames. The membranes are arranged parallel and spaced apart relative to each other. Between the two support frames, a supply air flow path extends on a first lateral face of the membrane and, angularly displaced to the supply air flow path, an exhaust air flow path extends on a second lateral face of the membrane facing away from the first lateral face. A flow opening of the supply air flow path and a flow opening of the exhaust air flow path are delimited by the two support frames and extend parallel to a plane of the membrane clamped between them.

A membrane distillation regenerator can include a first liquid channel through which a first liquid flows at a first temperature, a second liquid channel through which a second liquid flows from the first liquid channel and at a second temperature higher than the first temperature, a condensation cell disposed between the first liquid channel and the second liquid channel, and a permeable membrane disposed between the second liquid channel and the condensation cell. The regenerator can include several distillation stages in which the vapor separated from the second liquid can pass from an evaporation chamber of the second liquid channel through the membrane and into a corresponding condensation chamber of the condensation cell.

A zeolite membrane composite including a porous support and a zeolite membrane formed on a surface of the porous support. The zeolite membrane has an LTA-type crystal structure. The first atomic ratio: Si/Al of silicon element (Si) to aluminum element (Al) in the zeolite membrane is 1.29 or greater and 1.60 or less.