Date of Report:  October 15, 2009

EPA Agreement Number:  X-83254101-1

Center:  Center for Environmental and Energy Research (CEER)

Project Title: Novel Glass-Ceramic Gas Separation Membranes

Investigator:  S.T. Misture

Institution of PI:  Alfred University

Research Category:  Congressionally Mandated Center

Project Period:  October 1, 2008 - September 30, 2010

 

 

Objective of Research:  The proposed work will demonstrate the feasibility of manufacturing gas separation membranes using a well-established and low-cost glass-ceramic process.  The effects of glass composition on the crystalline phases that form and the nature of the micropores formed after exposure to a reducing atmosphere will be determined.  The process will yield highly dispersed Ni metal particles supported by the oxide glass-ceramic that may also have applications for catalysis and looping combustion oxygen sources.

 

Progress Summary/Accomplishments:

The student who is working on the project, Brenden Hill, has taken over from the previous student, Michelene Miller.  Brenden has extended the work of Michelene, and the project is nearing completion.   We have thus far proven that Ni-loaded spinels can be reduced to produce Ni metal vs. oxide composites wherein the oxide has a mesoporous structure.  The last year of effort has focused on preparing samples and equipment to measure hydrogen permeability as well as on directly measuring the mesoporosity via several techniques, in particular neutron diffraction.   For samples, we have succeeded in reactively sintering the spinels at reduced temperatures to achieve at least 95% theoretical density.  Subsequent reduction of these materials extracts Ni and oxygen, to leave behind the mesoporous ceramic.  The neutron diffraction refinements are essentially complete, and we have two draft publications that we are in process of finalizing.  The last critical step is measurement of the hydrogen permeability rate.

 

 

Publications/Presentations for this project year: 

1.              Brenden E. Hill*, Michelene E. Miller, Scott T. Misture, ÒDevelopment of nanoporous ceramics through selective reduction reactions,Ó ACerS Pacific Rim Conference, May 2009.

2.              M.E. Miller, B. Hill, and S.T. Misture, "Nanoporous Glass-Ceramics for Gas Separation", 33rd International Conference & Exposition on Advanced Ceramics and Composites (2009).

3.              M.E. Miller and S.T. Misture, "Nanoporous Glass-Ceramic Membranes", Materials Science & Technology 2008 Conference and Exhibit (MS&T '08).

Future Activities:

Measure hydrogen permeability of the following specimens:

 

  1. Reduced spinels, which have been extensively characterized, have been prepared as nearly fully-dense (above 95% theoretical density) pellets with diameter of 1 inch.  These samples were reactively sintered to achieve high density, and are ideal for the permeation measurement. 

 

  1. Cordierite glass-ceramics with oriented cordierite crystals in the glass surface. These materials have the potential to support fast hydrogen permeation because of aligned channels in the crystal structure of the cordierite.

 

After performing the measurements, we plan to correlate the details of the micro and nanostructures to the permeability.  Publications are in progress, as mentioned earlier, and we intend to publish at least one additional paper, if not two, concerning these two classes of materials.

 

Supplemental Key Words:  gas separation, mesoporous, glass

Relevant Web Sites:  http://ceer.alfred.edu