Carbon membranes can be applied to several process steps in natural gas, biogas or flue gas treatment. The significant more expensive inorganic membranes must have a higher separation performance compared to the polymeric membranes. Because of its resistance to solvents, pressure and temperature inorganic membranes have a chance in the marketplace. The predominant transport mechanism is molecular sieving (MSCM). Graphitic carbon do have lattice plane distances in the range of small gas molecules. Different steps in the production process allowed controlling the size of pores. High separation factors in gas mixtures were achieved. Reproducibility in the fabrication process is an unsolved problems. Carbon membranes showed a robust performance also in presence of impurities like H2O and H2S.

• U. Lubenau(DBI GUT GmbH, Leipzig, Germany)