Theoretical investigation of gas separation inside a microchannel by thermal diffusion

摘要

Microscale gas separation using thermal diffusion is investigated. Under the effects of a thermal loading, different gas species move at different velocities which results in gas separation. This approach to separation may be especially applicable in micro- and nanosystems, since the requirement for relatively bulky pumps, typically required in conventional membrane filtration or gas chromatography, is eliminated. In this paper, we report our theoretical investigation of the separation effect caused by a thermal gradient in a mixture gas flow. The dependence of separation performance on various parameters, including temperature loading, molecular weight, and channel size, is investigated.