• Membrane Journal
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.124-132
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• 2001

Silica membranes were prepared on a porous ${\alpha}$-alumina tube with pore size of 150nm by sol-gel and chemical vapor deposition(CVD) method for hydrogen separation at high temperatures. Silica and ${\gamma}$-lumina membranes formed by the sol-gel method possessed a large amount of mesopores of a Knudsen diffusion regime. In order to improve the $H_2$ selectivity, silica was deposited in the sol-gel derived silica/${\gamma}$-alumina layer by thermal decomposition of tetraethyl orthosilicate(TEOS) at $600^{\circ}C$. The CVD with forced cross flow through the porous wall of the support was very effective in plugging mesopores that were left unplugged in the membranes. The CVD modified silica/alumina composite membrane completely rejected nitrogen permeation and thus showed a high $H_2$ selectivity by molecular sieve effect. the permeation of hydrogen was explained by activated diffusion and the activation energy was 9.52kJ/mol.