Japan Pionics Co., Ltd.

Noboru Takemasa

Satoshi Arakawa

Koichi Kitahara

Kenji Ohtsuka

Toshio Akiyama

Yoshinao Komiya

Yasuo Sato

Shinobu Kamiyama

Kenji Otsuka

The present invention is to provide a method for refining hydrogen with a hydrogen refining device in which the inside of a cell is divided into a primary side space and a secondary side space by palladium alloy capillaries each having one end being closed and a tube sheet supporting the open end of the palladium alloy capillaries, in which impurity-containing hydrogen is introduced from the primary side space to allow hydrogen to permeate the palladium alloy capillaries so as to collect pure hydrogen from the secondary side space. The method for refining hydrogen has a capability of decreasing the removed amount of gas containing impurities and efficiently collecting pure hydrogen from the secondary side space. From hydrogen with 1000 ppm or less of impurities as raw material hydrogen, gas containing impurities that does not penetrate the palladium alloy capillaries is removed from the primary side space at the flow rate of 10% or less of the introduction flow rate of the raw material hydrogen. Furthermore, gas containing impurities that does not penetrate the palladium alloy capillaries is removed from the primary side space at a flow rate based on the content of impurities contained in raw material hydrogen.

Method for refining hydrogen

The present invention is to provide a means for easily replacing palladium alloy capillaries in a hydrogen purification device formed by using hydrogen separation membrane formed from the palladium alloy capillaries. The hydrogen purification device can be easily disassembled into a palladium alloy membrane unit and a storage structure thereof. A palladium alloy membrane unit is provided with a plurality of palladium alloy capillaries, a disk-shaped tube sheet supporting the palladium alloy capillaries, a pure hydrogen discharge pipe having a cylinder being in close contact with a periphery of the tube sheet at one end, a joint connecting with a pure hydrogen outlet of the storage structure at the other end, and preferably a joint being in close contact with an opening of a container of the storage structure at a position between the cylinder and the outlet joint. The storage structure is provided with a container storing the palladium alloy membrane unit, a heater, a raw material hydrogen inlet, an impurity-containing gas outlet, and a pure hydrogen outlet, a member provided on the pure hydrogen outlet, the member connecting with a joint provided at one end of the palladium alloy membrane unit, and preferably a member provided on the opening of the container, the member being in close contact with a joint provided on the cylinder of the palladium alloy membrane unit.

Palladium alloy membrane unit, storage structure thereof, and method of purifying hydrogen by using the same

There is diclosed a process for purifying hydrogen gas which comprises removing impurities such as nitrogen, oxygen, methane, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and moisture contained in a crude hydrogen gas by bringing the crude hydrogen gas into contact under heating with a hydride of a zirconium alloy such as Zr-V, Zr-V-Ni, Zr-V-Cr, Zr-V-Co, Zr-V-Fe, Zr-V-Cu, Zr-V-Ni-Cr, Zr-V-Ni-Co and Zr-V-Cr-Fe. By virtue of using the above Zr alloy hydride, the process enables highly advanced purification of crude hydrogen gas by removing such impurities as above to a level as low as 1 ppb or less in high safety and efficiency at low installation and running costs.

Process for purifying hydrogen gas

Highly purified rare gas (helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, etc.) is obtained by removing impurities contained therein, such as nitrogen, hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, oxygen, hydrogen and water, at relatively low temperatures by the use of a getter. This getter is a two-component alloy of zirconium and vanadium, or a multi-component alloy containing, as well as zirconium and vanadium, at least one of chromium, nickel and cobalt.

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Hiratsuka, Japan

Noboru Takemasa