Patent ID: 7314502

Claim:
A method of separating a component from a multi-component gas, comprising: (a) providing a flow conduit having a semi-permeable section adapted to selectively permeate the component to be separated in the presence of the multi-component gas flowing therethrough, the flow conduit having a feed side and a permeate side; (b) passing the multi-component gas along the feed side of the flow conduit; (c) providing a sweep gas at a first velocity, the sweep gas being suitable for passage along the permeate side of the flow conduit and being suitable for sweeping the component gas that permeates through the permeable section of the conduit away from the permeate side of the flow conduit, thereby producing a gas mixture comprising the sweep gas and the component gas; (d) accelerating the velocity of the sweep gas so that the velocity of the sweep gas along at least a portion of the permeate side of the flow conduit is greater than the first velocity of the sweep gas; and (e) decelerating the gas mixture by means of a defuser, thereby recovering as pressure a portion of the energy of the gas mixture.