Topic summary
Hydrogen purifier
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Hydrogen purification.
Palladium membrane hydrogen purifiers
Hydrogen can be purified by passing through a membrane composed of palladium and silver. Permeability of the former to hydrogen was discovered back in the 1860s. An alloy with a ca. 3:1 ratio for Pd:Ag is more structural robust than pure Pd, which is the active component that allows the selective diffusion of H2 through it. Diffusion is faster near 300 °C. This method has been used for purification of hydrogen on a laboratory scale, but not in industry. Silver-palladium membranes are unstable toward alkenes and sulfur-containing compounds.