Petroleum refineries are one of potentially several beneficiaries of a patented separation technology developed by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Refineries use high-purity hydrogen to convert crude oil into several products, including gasoline for automobiles. During the refining process, called hydrotreating, the hydrogen becomes depleted, and refineries now burn the hydrogen to provide heat for other operations, or they use it for other less value-added operations. ORNL's microporous inorganic membrane can purify or enrich depleted hydrogen streams in a single pass. The ability to recover hydrogen results in significant improvements to process efficiency. Other potential applications include recovering hydrogen from coal-derived synthesis gas and from gas streams in other industrial processes. This membrane operates over a wide range of temperatures and can produce 99.9 percent pure hydrogen for use in fuel cells.
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