Patent ID: 7323040

Claim:
A membrane module for separating off hydrogen from a reformate gas and having a plurality of planar membrane cells, each of the plurality of membrane cells comprising: two hydrogen-selective planar membranes; two flat membrane frames, each surrounding one of the two membranes and each having a raised edge, each of the two frames disposed so that the raised edges face one another and contact one another; an air-permeable spacer layer disposed between the two membranes and configured to discharge permeate gas; a feed frame surrounding a feed space for the reformate gas adjacent one of the two membranes and bearing closely against the edges the membrane frame, the feed frame having external dimensions corresponding to external dimensions of the membrane frames and forming, together with the membrane frames, a stack having planar sides faces, wherein the membrane frames each include a first opening towards a side face of the stack, wherein the feed frame includes second and third openings toward side faces of the stack, and wherein one of the membrane frames and the feed frame are connected together in a gastight manner except for the first, second and third openings.