A hydrogen gas producing apparatus includes a porous body (100) and a mixed gas source (300). The porous body (100) is permeable to hydrogen gas and carbon dioxide gas, and has a property of being more permeable to hydrogen gas than carbon dioxide gas. The mixed gas source (300) causes a mixed gas including carbon dioxide gas and hydrogen gas to flow into the porous body (100) under a condition that a pressure gradient represented by (P.sub.1?P.sub.2)/L is below 50 MPa/m, where L represents the length of the porous body (100) in a direction in which the mixed gas permeates; P.sub.1 represents an inflow pressure of the mixed gas into the porous body (100); and P.sub.2 represents an outflow pressure thereof from the porous body (100).

The invention relates to a composition comprising: at least one porous solid additive having a charged surface; an IL; a polymerizable IL; and a cross-linker; wherein the cross-linker wherein the cross-linker has a high affinity to CO.sub.2 over other light gas and comprises at least two polymerizable groups configured to react, in a radical polymerization reaction, with the polymerizable ionic liquid, said polymerizable groups preferably containing double bond.

A composite material type oxygen transport membrane and its preparation method are disclosed. The composite material that is an ionic-electronic mixed conducting material having high ionic conductivity is stirred into slurry and formed into a thin strip-shaped green tape substrate through tape casting to obtain a predetermined half-finished substrate, and then sintered to form the half-finished substrate into a conductive function type oxygen ion conducting substrate, followed by choosing small particle shaped highly catalyzed ionic-electronic mixed conducting material to be evenly adhered to at least one side surface of the conductive function type oxygen ion conducting substrate to form a reductive function type oxygen ion conducting layer. The reductive function type oxygen ion conducting layer and the conductive function type oxygen ion conducting substrate are then bonded to produce a composite material type oxygen transport membrane element.

An article with a body having spaced channels created at a surface of the body and extending into the body, wherein the channels are located at controlled spaced locations. The channeled or microchanneled articles may be in the form of channeled or microchanneled membranes or otherwise. Methods of manufacturing channeled articles and uses of the channeled articles are described.

An improved method of sealing a ceramic part to a solid part made of ceramic, metal, cermet or a ceramic coated metal is provided. The improved method includes placing a bond agent comprising an Al.sub.2O.sub.3 and SiO.sub.2 based glass-ceramic material and organic binder material on adjoining surfaces of the ceramic part and the solid part. The assembly is heated to a first target temperature that removes or dissolves the organic binder material from the bond agent and the assembly is subjected to a second induction heating step at a temperature ramp rate of between about 100? C. and 200? C. per minute to temperatures where the glass-ceramic material flows and wets the interface between adjoining surfaces. The assembly is rapidly cooled at a cooling rate of about 140? C. per minute or more to induce nucleation and re-crystallization of the glass-ceramic material to form a dense, durable and gas-tight seal.

A method and a composition to stabilize the surface cation chemistry of the perovskite or related oxides, and thus, to minimize or completely avoid the detrimental segregation and phase separation of dopant cations at the surface can include modifying the surface with more oxidizable metal cations and/or more oxidizable metal oxides, thereby reducing the oxygen vacancy concentration at the very surface.

A hydrogen permeation membrane is provided that can include a metal and a ceramic material mixed together. The metal can be Ni, Zr, Nb, Ta, Y, Pd, Fe, Cr, Co, V, or combinations thereof, and the ceramic material can have the formula: BaZr.sub.1-x-yY.sub.xT.sub.yO.sub.3- where 0x0.5, 0y0.5, (x+y)>0; 00.5, and T is Sc, Ti, Nb, Ta, Mo, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, In, Sn, or combinations thereof. A method of forming such a membrane is also provided. A method is also provided for extracting hydrogen from a feed stream.

The invention relates to a catalytic activation layer for use in oxygen-permeable membranes, which can comprise at least one porous structure formed by interconnected ceramic oxide particles that conduct oxygen ions and electronic carriers, where the surface of said particles that is exposed to the pores is covered with nanoparticles made from a catalyst, the composition of which corresponds to the following formula:

A.sub.1-x-yB.sub.xC.sub.yO.sub.R where: A can be selected from Ti, Zr, Hf, lanthanide metals and combinations thereof; B and C are metals selected from Al, Ga, Y, Se, B, Nb, Ta, V, Mo, W, Re, Mn, Sn, Pr, Sm, Tb, Yb, Lu and combinations of same; and A must always be different from B. 0.01 <x<0.5; 0<y<0.3.

The invention relates to the use of a ceramic of formula Ba.sub.2(1x)M.sub.2xIn.sub.2(1y)M.sub.2yO.sub.4+(OH).sub. where M represents at least one metal cation with an oxidation number II or III or a combination thereof, M represents at least one metal cation with an oxidation number III, IV, V or VI or a combination thereof, 0x1, 0y1, 2 and 0 <2, as solid proton-conducting electrolyte in an electrochemical device, in particular a fuel cell, an electrolytic cell, a membrane separating hydrogen from a gas mixture, or also a hydrogen detector, at an operating temperature of said electrochemical device preferably comprised between 200 C. and 600 C.

A composite oxygen transport membrane having a dense layer, a porous support layer and an intermediate porous layer located between the dense layer and the porous support layer. Both the dense layer and the intermediate porous layer are formed from an ionic conductive material to conduct oxygen ions and an electrically conductive material to conduct electrons. The porous support layer has a high permeability, high porosity, and a microstructure exhibiting substantially uniform pore size distribution as a result of using PMMA pore forming materials or a bi-modal particle size distribution of the porous support layer materials. Catalyst particles selected to promote oxidation of a combustible substance are located in the intermediate porous layer and in the porous support adjacent to the intermediate porous layer. The catalyst particles can be formed by wicking a solution of catalyst precursors through the porous support toward the intermediate porous layer.