Figure 9. A comparison of the HETP values obtained from various PNNL MCD devices, each as a function of mass flux. Note the logarithmic scale for the HETP values. The data for this figure is taken from a previous publication17, with one point (Air) from the current work added for reference. C3 refers to propane/propylene separation with a 10.2 cm device; C1 and C1’ are for methane isotope separation with a 10.2 and 25.4 cm device, respectively; and CFD is for a computational fluid dynamics simulation based on the propane/propylene separation in the 10.2 cm long PTL device with liquid wicks and vapor channels with heights of 100 µm and 500 µm, respectively.

Reboiler outlet flow testing

Figure 10 shows the experimental measurements and model predictions for testing to determine the maximum reboiler outlet flow. The experimental values show that the AMPH column used in this work is capable of producing up to about 0.4 SLM of product containing at least 90% oxygen.