THE PERMEABILITIES OF CARBON-DIOXIDE, NITROUS-OXIDE AND OXYGEN AND THEIR MIXTURES THROUGH SILICONE-RUBBER AND CELLULOSE-ACETATE MEMBRANES

Measurements have been made of the permeability of nitrous oxide (N2O) , carbon dioxide (CO2) and oxygen (O2) through silicone rubber and cel lulose acetate membranes using a flat sheet permeator. Measurements ha ve also been made of individual gas permeabilities from a mixed feed s tream. N2O had the highest permeability when using the silicone rubber membrane, followed by CO2, with O2 an order of magnitude less. All th ree gas permeability coefficients were independent of feed pressure fo r this membrane and N2O and CO2 permeability coefficients were tempera ture independent. For the cellulose acetate membrane, N2O and CO2 perm eabilities varied with feed pressure and all three gases gave positive temperature coefficients. No separation of CO2 from N2O could be achi eved under any conditions with the cellulose acetate membrane.