Fluid separation

Claim 1

AN IMPROVED INTERMEDIATE PRESSURE APPARATUS FOR CONTINUOUSLY SEPARATING A PERMEABLE FLUID HAVING A MOLECULAR SIZE AT LEAST EQUAL TO THAT OF HELIUM FROM A FLUID MIXTURE ACCORDING TO THE DIFFERENTIAL PERMEATION RATES OF EACH OF THE MIXTURE COMPONENTS THROUGH AT LEAST ONE NON-POROUS MEMBRANE STRUCTURE, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING A FLUID-TIGHT HOUSING MEANS DEFINING AN ENCLOSED FLUID SEPARATION ZONE, SAID APPARATUS FURTHER COMPRISING, AT LEAST ONE NON-POROUS MEMBRANE STRUCTURE IN AN ELONGATED TUBULAR DISPOSITION IN SAID HOUSING MEANS, EACH MEMBRANE STRUCTURE SUPPORTED BY MEANS OF AN ELONGATED FLEXIBLE SMALL DIAMETER HOLLOW FILAMENT CONSISTING OF A SINGLE UNITARY UNBROKEN CONTINUOUS ELEMENT FORMED OF A POROUS FLUID-PERMEABLE COMPOSITION, A SECOND MEANS COOPERATING WITH SAID HOUSING MEANS AND SAID FILAMENT TO SUPPORT SAID FILAMENT AND SAID MEMBRANE STRUCTURE IN SAID FLUID SEPARATION ZONE, SAID MEMBRANE STRUCTURE FORMED OF SOLID, NON-POROUS FLUID PERMEABLE SYNTHETIC ORGANIC POLYMERIC COMPOSITION, SAID MEMBRANE STRUCTURE COMPOSITION BEING PERMEABLE TO OTHER FLUIDS IN ADDITION TO HYDROGEN AND HELIUM, EACH SAID FILAMENT ENGAGING SAID MEMBRANE STRUCTURE AND SECURED THERETO TO FORM A UNITARY COMPOSITE ASSEMBLY, EACH COMPOSITE ASSEMBLY FORMED BY SUCH FILAMENT AND MEMBRANE STRUCTURE HAVING AN EXTERIOR SURFACE AND AN INTERIOR SURFACE, AN EXTERNAL DIAMETER AND, AN INTERNAL DIAMETER, SAID MEMBRANE STRUCTURE HAVING A THICKNESS BETWEEN ABOUT 1 AND ABOUT 32 MICRONS, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING A THIRD MEANS, COOPERATING WITH SAID HOUSING MEANS FOR DIRECTING, AT A GIVEN PRESSURE AND BELOW A TEMPERATURE AT WHICH SAID MEMBRANE STRUCTURE WOULD BE RENDERED INOPERATIVE BY THERMAL DETERIORATION, AN INITIAL FLUID MIXTURE COMPRISING AT LEAST ONE FLUID WITH A FINITE PERMEATION RATE THROUGH SAID MEMBRANE STRUTURE COMPOSITION RELATIVELY SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER THAN THE FINITE PERMEATION RATES OF ANY OTHER COMPONENT OF SAID MIXTURE THROUGH SAID MEMBRANE STRUCTURE COMPOSITION, AGAINST ONE OF THE SURFACES OF EACH COMPOSITE ASSEMBLY, SAID PRESSURE, SAID MEMBRANE STRUCTURE COMPOSITION, AND SAID INITIAL MIXTURE BEING SUCH THAT A PORTION OF SAID MIXTURE CONTINUOUSLY PERMEATES THROUGH EACH COMPOSITE ASSEMBLY TO ITS OTHER SURFACE, SAID APPARATUS FURTHER COMPRISING A FOURTH MEANS, COOPERATING WITH SAID HOUSING MEANS, FOR COLLECTING AND REMOVING FROM SAID OTHER SURFACE OF EACH COMPOSITE ASSEMBLY, AT A PRESSURE LOWER THAN SAID GIVEN PRESSURE, A PERMEATE MIXTURE CORRESPONDING TO SAID INITIAL MIXTURE BUT ENRICHED IN THE FLUID HAVING THE HIGHEST PERMEATION RATE, THE COMPOSITIONS OF SAID FILAMENT AND MEMBRANE STRUCTURE, THE DIAMETER, AND WALL THICKNESS OF SAID HOLLOW FILAMENTS, AND THE THICKNESS OF SAID MEMBRANE STRUCTURE SELECTED SUCH THAT EACH OF SAID COMPOSITE ASSEMBLIES HAVE SUFFICIENT STRENGTH TO CONTINUOUSLY WITHSTAND INTERMEDIATE PRESSURES OF FROM ABOUT 175 TO ABOUT 2000 P.S.I. BELOW SAID TEMPERATURE, AND SUCH THAT A PLURALITY OF SUCH COMPOSITE ASSEMBLIES AND A PLURALITY OF PORTIONS OF A SINGLE SUCH ASSSEMBLY, EACH PLURALITY ARRANGED IN A SQUARE CLOSE-PACKED PARALLEL ARRANGEMENT WITHIN A GIVEN VOLUME OF THE SEPARATION ZONE WILL PROVIDE A SUFFICIENTLY HIGH AMOUNT OF EFFECTIVE MEMBRANE SURFACE AREA OF MINIMUM THICKNESS WITH ADEQUATE STRENGTH TO GIVE A HIGH FLUID SEPARATION PRODUCTIVITY AT SAID PRESSURES AND FOR SAID PERMEATION RATES.