초록

A permeable membrane apparatus having one or more hollow-fiber bundles enclosed in a single housing with end caps adapted so as to segment the bundles into a plurality of portions that can be separately used for fluid separation and its use.

대표청구항 ▼

A method for separating a product gas as either a permeated or non-permeated gas stream from a mixture of said product gas and at least one other gas comprising: a. feeding said mixture to a hollow-fiber permeator, said permeator having a plurality of first connecting lines for feeding the gas mixtu

A method for separating a product gas as either a permeated or non-permeated gas stream from a mixture of said product gas and at least one other gas comprising: a. feeding said mixture to a hollow-fiber permeator, said permeator having a plurality of first connecting lines for feeding the gas mixture to a plurality of ports providing fluid communication through an enclosing means to a plurality of first sealed volumes formed by contact of the enclosing means with a tubesheet in which the hollow fibers terminate and a plurality of second connecting lines for feeding a non-permeated gas mixture from a plurality of ports providing fluid communication from a plurality of second sealed volumes formed in the same manner as the plurality of first sealed volumes through enclosing means, each first connecting line corresponding to a second connecting line, b. maintaining sufficient pressure differential across the membrane so that a permeated and a non-permeated gas are produced, and c. stopping the flow of the feed mixture to certain first sealed volumes when product flow is such that bundle portions defined by the certain sealed volumes are not required to achieve flow and by preventing backflow of non-permeated gas into those bundle portions. A hollow fiber permeator, comprising: a. bundle of hollow fibers having open bores in a first tubesheet at a feed end and a second tubesheet at a discharge end; b. a first enclosing means at the feed end and a second enclosing means at the discharge end, said enclosing means contacting first tubesheet and second tubesheet in a means that forms a plurality of sealed volumes each containing separate portions of the bores of the hollow fibers at the feed end and at the discharge end, the portions at the feed end corresponding to and in fluid communication with the bores at the discharge end; and c. a plurality of ports in each enclosing means, the ports providing fluid communication through each enclosing means.