Industrial gas major Air Products is promoting its membranes at European Biomethane Week in Brussels this week, amid rising cross-industry demand for membrane separator tech.
Alongside biogas and hydrogen recovery applications, driving membrane demand is the use of nitrogen in the aerospace industry and cleaner fuels for the marine industry.
To meet global demand, Air Products is investing over $70m to expand its membrane manufacturing and logistics centre in Maryland Heights, Missouri. This is the largest investment for its membrane production unit.
Air Products’ Prism membranes are hollow-fibre separators used for on-site gas generation and purification in a wide range of industrial applications.
Dr Erin Sorensen, General Manager for Membrane Solutions at Air Products, said innovation is not just down to developing a new membrane product but enabling a future that is “safer, cleaner and more productive”.
Explaining applications in the biogas sector, Dr Adam Kratochvil, Product & Applications Development Manager, said, “High-pressure raw biogas is fed into the membrane separator – CO2 permeates the separator faster than the methane and ends up on the low-pressure permeator side, while methane travels through the separator and remains at high pressure.”
The Prism GreenSep LNG membrane separator, launched last year by Air Products, received an award in the bioenergy and agriculture sector at a recent green technology expo in Italy.
The European Biomethane Week attracts more than 700 delegates, covering producers, users, investors and legislators.
The primary European biomethane target is to produce 35 billion cubic meters (bcm) of sustainable biomethane annually by 2030, a goal set by the European Commission in its REPowerEU plan.