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DTIC ADA208863: Separation of Oxygen from Seawater by Membrane Permeation

A reliable and compact system able to extract dissolved oxygen from seawater is required for a number of naval applications. This proposal describes the application of a membrane process called pervaporation to the problem of oxygen separation. Seawater containing dissolved air is brought in contact with a suitable membrane, and the dissolved air preferentially permeates the membrane. In this Phase I program, two thin-film composite membranes were evaluated, and the feasibility of the approach was demonstrated using a small bench-scale system fitted with a 6-sq m spiral-would membrane module. Approximately 40% of the dissolved oxygen in seawater could be removed in a single pass through the membrane module. The oxygen concentration of the permeate gas was 33%. A technical analysis was conducted for the application of this technology for 1) life support on submarines, and 2) oxygen supply for submerged fuel cells. The analysis showed the fuel cell application to be the most promising. In this application, the power consumption of the oxygen extraction process is 25% of the energy produced by the fuel cell.

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