Ppg Industries, Inc.

Michael A Smoot

Herbert W Barch

Balbhadra Das

Joseph J Hammel

Richard P Beaver

William P Marshall

Walter J Robertson

Balbhadra Daas

A hollow, porous, silica-rich fiber, a process for producing same, and a process for enriching at least one gas from a gaseous mixture utilizing at least one fiber to result in gas separations with good permeability and good selectivity. The fiber is non-crystalline and has pore sizes having a range of 1 to around 50 Angstroms in diameter and a mean pore size of around less than 20 Angstroms in diameter and a filament diameter in the range of 1 to around 250 microns and a wall thickness in the range of around 1 to 50 microns. The fibers with a fine pore structure and thin walls are produced by forming hollow glass fibers hindered or fully phase-separable boron and/or alkali metal glass composition, by attenuation from melt at speeds in the range of 500 ft/min to around 30,000 ft/min. The phase-separable glass fibers are heat treated to yield limited phase-separated hollow glass fibers and these fibers are leached to extract acid and/or water soluble components. For fully phase-separable, hollow glass fibers, a limited heat treatment is used before leaching, where the heat treatment is at a temperature of around 300 to less than 480.degree. C. for a time of around 5 minutes to 24 hours. The hindered, phase-separable, hollow glass fibers are heat treated at a temperature in the range of about 400 to about 600.degree. C. At least one hollow, porous, silica-rich fiber is used in a device suitable to contain a gaseous mixture and the permeate is withdrawn from the silica-rich fiber at the opposite side from that at which the gaseous mixture contacts the hollow, porous fiber.

Process of gas enrichment with porous siliceous-containing material

A fluid separation device in the form of a cartridge is shown in which there is provided a fluid inlet to the cartridge, a distribution tube to feed fluid from the center of the cartridge outwardly across alternate layers of permeable membranes and glass fibers, rovings and strands and wherein the fibers are porous, hollow, or porous and hollow. The fibers are oriented parallel to each other and sealed at one end of the cartridge and open at the other end when hollow fibers are used. A vessel for housing the cartridge is also shown.

Novel cartridge with stress relieving member

A novel mat composite is shown in which a plurality of glass fibers, strands or rovings are carried on a fluid permeable sheet with two generally parallel ribbons of mastic on each side of the sheet inboard of the edges affixing the fibers, strands or rovings to the sheet and maintaining the fibers, strands and rovings generally parallel to each other.

Mat structure

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Oakmont, PA, United States of America

Michael A Smoot