Gas diffusion in microporous media in Knudsen's regime.

Abstract

A diffusion equation for gas permeation through microporous media in the Knudsen regime was obtained theoretically, considering the potential energy between a gas molecule and the solid surface of pores. The equation as a function of temperature contains four parameters, all of which have physical meanings. The most significant of these parameters is the effective potential energy ε*, by which the gas diffusion equation as a function of temperature is characterized. Permeabilities of He, H2, CO, N2, O2, Ar, and CO2 through a microporous Vycor glass membrane were measured in the temperature range from 300 K to 950 K. The validity of the diffusion equation obtained was verified experimentally and was shown to express well the previous data. For helium in particular, diffusion is almost gas-phase flow, with no adsorbed flow except at very low temperature. However, the diffusion is affected by the interaction energy between the gas molecules and the solid surface in the pores.