Apparatus and Operation- Dana Mitchell Apparatus Description: The apparatus is a membrane air separation system which consists

of two Prism Separators, with a nominal fiber outside diameter of 450 microns and a nominal surface area of 24 ft2, which are mounted in series on a common manifold. A schematic of the apparatus can be seen in Figure 1. The first separator in the series, P1, is able to be operated in either co-current or counter-current flow, while the second separator, P2, operates in only counter-current flow. Air is supplied to the separators by either the shop air or laboratory (lab) air. The shop air has a maximum pressure of 60 psig, and the lab air has a maximum pressure of 90 psig. The air supply can be turned from off to either shop air or lab air using valve 1 (V1). The pressure of the air is controlled by a 3-D Instruments pressure gauge, capable of reading pressures from 0 to 150 psig. The pressure gauge along with all valves and the air flow control can be found on a Plexiglas sheet in front of the separators. There are eleven valves in the system in order to control the direction of air flow. The valves are open when in the upward position. Valve 1 controls the air feed supply while valve 2 controls the air feed pressure. Valves 4 and 6 are used to switch between co-current and counter-current flow in the first separator. Valves 3, 5, 8, 9, and 11 are venting valves. Valve 7 is used to control flow into the second separator, while valve 10 is the flow control for the non-permeate stream out of the second separator. Once the feed air is passed through the first separator, the permeate air enters a Teledyne oxygen analyzer, while the non-permeate air continues into the second separator. After leaving the second separator, the non-permeate air flows through valve 10 and a Porter mass flowmeter and then enters a Teledyne oxygen analyzer. These analyzers measure the percent oxygen in the air and transmit this data to Labtech Data Acquisition software. The percent oxygen in the permeate and non-permeate

streams, feed air pressure, and non- permeate air flow rate are displayed on the computer in the laboratory. Operation: The experiment was begun by turning on the data acquisition software. Goggles were worn at all times, and pressures were monitored carefully to be sure the maximum pressure (200 psig) was never exceeded. During this experiment valve 7 was always kept in the closed position, in order to block permeate air from the second separator. This was done in order to isolate the first separator, because data was wanted for co- and counter-current flow and only the first separator was capable of both configurations. Co-current runs were done first by keeping all valves closed except valve 6, which was open. Pressure was varied from 30 to 90 psig and flow rate was varied from 3 to 9 SLPM for each pressure. Two runs were done at each flow rate. Before each run, a test run was conducted where data was not collected in order to set the pressure and/or flow rate for the next run. This was done to minimize the amount of adjustments made while the data obtaining run was taking place. Once the run had begun, flow rate and pressure were monitored to make sure they stayed constant. Steady state was determined by monitoring the data demonstrated graphically on the computer and determining the time at which the percent oxygen in the permeate stream first plateaued. The software time read out was recorded as time to reach steady state. After steady state was reached, data for the flow rate, pressure, and percent oxygen were recorded five times in ten second intervals in order to determine the error associated with each run. Between each run and test run, the apparatus was vented by closing all valves except for valve 5, and allowing the pressure to reach approximately 0 psig. Counter-current runs were conducted in the exact same manner, with the exception that instead of valve 6 being open, valve 6 was closed at all times and valve 4 was open during runs.

Pressure Control Valve 2 Separator 1 Separator 2 Flow Control Valve 10

Valve 1

Valve 5 Valve 4 Shop Air Valve 6 O2 Analyzer

O2 Analyzer

Valve 7

Feed Non Permeate Permeate

Valve 8

Figure 1: Membrane Gas Separation Apparatus