Tourism And Hospitality Management In Bangladesh Tourism Essay

tourism And Hospitality Management In Bangladesh Tourism EssayTourism and cordial reception management business is one of the booming sectors of todays business world. It contributes a bully amount in every(prenominal) national economy. Sheraton hotel is the first renowned five-star hotel in Bangladesh which is related in tourism and hospitality business. They argon successfully direct their business for often years. Hospitality and tourism industry contracts tonic and economic employee capital of Bangladesh Sheraton Hotel has these kind of employee. And they ar pretty much good to Human Resource Management. Companys achieveance is richlyly depended on the performance of their employees. If they perform their duties absolutely companys performance whollyow for be neater. Beside these capital of Bangladesh Sheraton Hotel developed recent st deemgies for their employees by which they testament be satisfied with the system. To step ahead Sheraton hotel has to set up and transgress few core competencies in the hospitality and tourism industry. The sign go of fundamental activities of HRM is recruiting projection and it move around forces. If shapings engross individual labor haphazardly without any employment planning they would non be adequate to(p) to serve their customer perfectly. capital of Bangladesh Sheraton hotel is efficient in employment planning. someoneal credit line satisfaction is highly depending on the employee and the fulfillment of their expectations. If they are satisfy with the returns which are given by the organizations. capital of Bangladesh Sheraton Hotel take notes in mind to serve their employee with advantage and compensation by which they stinkpot turn into loyal employee.PART -A2. screen background new strategiesIt has been two decades that director is learning to play by a new set of rules. Companies must affirm flexibility to respond speedily to be competitive and market changes. (Porter, 1996 ). To step ahead Sheraton hotel has to nurture and practice few core competencies in the hospitality and tourism industry. capital of Bangladesh Sheraton Hotel before long developed new strategies are given infra high school readjustment account Companys performance is highly depends on the employees who wrench for the organization. If they are satisfied with their allowance they forget be serious in their croak. Understanding this fact capital of Bangladesh Sheraton Hotel provides their employee with high allowance.Package tour capital of Bangladesh Sheraton Hotel purpose their permanent employee incase tour according to their performance and their qualitiesCommission They also provide citizens committee to their employee on the basis of their capacity of the guest handling. Besides the salary electric charge has a great motivational thing to advance their performance.Bonus per annum bonus and the occasional bonus are provided by the capital of Bangladesh Sheraton Hote l to their employees. These bon works deem the salary higher than any former(a) organization regarding this sector. So employees mystify satisfy with this bonus.Transportation facilities They have transportation facilities for their employees so that the employees have right journey to their work place without any hazards.Lunch and dinner capital of Bangladesh Sheraton Hotel provides lunch to their employees. So that they drive out get their meal in their work place. It reduces the waste of quantify and increase the capacity of doing work. They basin have a get together in the lunch period and qualified to controert numerous an(prenominal) different issues between them.Housing They also offer their employee lodgement facilities according to their position in the rent out sector. Proper housing female genitals remove the frustration and tension of being safe.3. Evaluate new strategiesDhaka Sheraton Hotel set new strategies for the employees which make them satisfied in their workplace. For ensuring these jitneys take many steps and they are careful round(predicate) the labor enlisting, high overturn rate and satisfaction issue. Organization must be careful about the labor recruitment process. Through this process organizations work force is chartered for accomplishing many problems. To satisfy the work force company needs to take wellnessy relation backships between them.Labor recruitment Organizations performance depends on the compassionate resource management. The initial steps of fundamental activities of HRM is recruiting labor and it work forces. If organizations hire individual labor haphazardly without any employment planning they would not be competent to serve their customer perfectly. shape over Dhaka Sheraton Hotel lie withs how to satisfy their customer. If the customers are more satisfied than their expectations with the do of Dhaka Sheraton Hotel they ordain be the loyal customer group. And Dhaka Sheraton Hotel has loyal customer group. Their single(a) services are attracted many customer by which they always favor this hotel which helps to make a reinvigorated turnover every year.Satisfaction job satisfaction is very important for the employees. If they are not satisfied to work with the organization they will not concentrate to their work properly. Their work surround should be satisfactory to them so that they can work properly and finally the organization will be benefited for it.3.1 Labor recruitmentThe labor recruitment is the fundamental step of HRM. In the recruiting process organization should have whatsoever considerations in their mind for their labor. The last few years there is a number of studies have seen with international contrasts in the history of work and four-in-handial and recruiting strategies. (Lorenz, 1990)Employee selection Every organization pick outs good people to work with them. For this yard hiring good people is very much essential for the organization. To w ork in the hospitality and tourism industry employees must be smart and able to survive in the changing situation. (David A.Decanzo nd Stephen P.Robbins)Efficient employee hospitality and tourism industry is totally different from the other industry. For this reason they need efficient people to conduct their activities properly. Dhaka Sheraton Hotel always searching for efficient employee who will be able to work in the challenging environment.High skilful Dhaka Sheraton Hotel also prefer high clever employee. They have uncomparable technology to serve their customer and their targeted area which needs high skilled labor.Better environment Better environment needs better people. Dhaka Sheraton Hotel believes this statement for this reason they try to hire those people who are able to cope with the environment and are able to survive with the changing environment.3.2 Turn over Dhaka Sheraton Hotel screws how to satisfy their customer. If the customers are more satisfied than thei r expectations with the service of Dhaka Sheraton Hotel they will be the loyal customer group. And Dhaka Sheraton Hotel has loyal customer group. Their exclusive services are attracted many customer by which they always prefer this hotel which helps to make a smart turnover every year.Loyal customer group Dhaka Sheraton Hotel knows how to satisfy their customer. If the customers are more satisfied than their expectations with the service of Dhaka Sheraton Hotel they will be the loyal customer group. And Dhaka Sheraton Hotel has loyal customer group. Their exclusive services are attracted many customer by which they always prefer this hotel which helps to make a smart turnover every year.High rate of customer loyalty Dhaka Sheraton Hotel has many loyal customer and it also have high rate of customer loyalty with the best service of this country. It also makes a great turnover.Best uptake of capital Dhaka Sheraton Hotel knows the way of best use of their capital. Their service and th e other facilities is world class. Which make them a international hotel. It has all facilities of the five star hotels. Thats why it is known as international hotel.High charge They charges high in some service which are not available in other hotels in Bangladesh. They charges high because they are well(p) in that area. This high charge brings out high turn over at every financial year.Price skimming Dhaka Sheraton Hotel charges high in some area which is exclusive. When they introduce new services they stick the market skimming pricing.3.3 Satisfaction Job satisfaction is highly depending on the employee and the fulfillment of their expectations. If they are satisfy with the returns which are given by the organizations. Dhaka Sheraton Hotel keeps in mind to serve their employee with benefit and compensation by which they can turn into loyal employee.Better satisfaction working capacity is depending on the employee satisfaction. If the employee of an organizations are satisfied with the organization they will try to work dangerous for the organization. Dhaka Sheraton hotel offers better satisfaction than the other organizations.Secured career if an employee is satisfy with the organization consequently they need a secured life. Dhaka Sheraton hotel gives their employee some unique offer which helps them to secure their life. They aregenerositypensiontransportationhousinghealth insuranceFinancial satisfaction Dhaka Sheraton hotel offers high salary then the other hotel to their employee for this reason the employees are satisfied and they are interested to work with them for long time.Social satisfaction Dhaka Sheraton hotel organizes different types of social functions which makes the employees life happier than before. In the special days they organize special events for their employee and their customers. They are Pitha uthshobEid mela icing cream festivalEducational fair.3.3.5 Family collaboration Dhaka Sheraton Hotel organizes different types of gat herings which enhance the family collaboration. Dhaka Seraton Hotel always try to make the bond as wish well a family among their employees which helps to increase the ability to work.PART B4. Exploring the HR related problem that affect Sheraton hotelHuman resource management is not an piano task. It must be ensured by the HR manager that the right person is placed in the right situation to do the right task within a right time (Sushan and Rundall, 1990). If these things are not perfectly done problems occur in workplace. For this reason Dhaka Sheraton Hotel some multiplication has to face HR related problems. And these problems are given below4.1 prevalent interchange Switching job is a common scenario of todays business world. Employees are always searching for extra benefit and greater remuneration and other reason. Frequent interchange of the employee causes problem in every organization. Dhaka Sheraton hotel faces many problems for the frequent interchange of the employee. To fill the empty post they need to fix another recruitment process.High crave of employee In the tourism and hospitality industry the employee assume is high in Bangladesh. Dhaka Sheraton hotel always prefer the smart and efficient employee to work with them. Employee sometimes demands high for their job which causes several(prenominal) problems to them.Unreasonable demand Dhaka Sheraton Hotel tolerates perfectly to their employee as they deserve. Sometimes employees are not satisfied with it they demand high salary which is unreasonable.Bonus demand Employees demanded high bonus which is not right in the sense of management. Dhaka Sheraton hotel offer bonus to its employee in every occasion but their employee demand high bonus in some occasion.Personality conflict In every workplace sometimes character conflict happens. In Dhaka Sheraton hotel it also occurred. HR manager has to face many problem for personality conflict5. Option to make better relationship HR manager should have the interpersonal skills like communication, caring, encouragement and giving feedback.(FCCLA) They must ensure decentralise worksites, friendly environment and so on which are given belowDecentralized work sites HR manager can improve relation through establishing decentralized work site. They can plan their work in a decentralized way by reorganized them. Managers must know how to establish and ensure appropriate work quality and on time completion. Decentralized work sites remove traditional working system and tills need to change the work.(DeCenzo. and Robbins, 2008)Friendly environment HR manager should improve the environment and make a healthy friendly environment. This makes the employee to do their work easily and perfectly.Suggestion box HR manager can offer tip box where employee can give suggestion. This makes them to feel that they are important for the organization and HR manger.Complain box This type of box can be offered by the HR manager to make complain t o anybody to the top management. These can help them to work perfectly for the organization.Cross functional team In every department there should be flow of information regarding their work. It could be helpful for the organization and for the employee. If they have the information which are related to the other department of the Dhaka Sheraton Hotel their work would be easier to accomplish.Frequent information flow HR manager should ensure to the frequent flow of applicable information. From the upper berth level o the lower level frequent flow of relevant information is needed it will be helpful for the employee to make closing regarding their work.Training and development To maximize the employees potentialities training and development is needed. HR manager can organize different types of training which are related to advance relationships and develop their career.Motivation To give the employees proper motivation can be enhance the relationship between the HR manager and the employees. HR manager is responsible for the identification of the employees need and want and according to them they have to use the motivational tools. (Themduangkhae W,2002)Feedback Feedback is important for the HR manger and the employees. By this they can cope what they understand by accomplishing any new task. And what would be the further steps to make the task easier than before.5.10 Communications HR manager can improve the relationship with the employees by communicating directly. They can communicate with the employee directly to know about their progress of their and their condition. They can also communicate to know about the problem that employees are facing to do their tasks.Establishing rewards and pay plans HR manager can establish rewards and pay plans. According to the employees performance HR manger can give them performance based rewards. Performance based rewards can be CommissionsPiecework pay plansIncentives systemGroup bonusMerit payPerformance may not be the only determinant to give the rewards. It can be the high motivational tools for the employees.6. ConclusionHospitality and tourism industry is a very profitable sector where HRM is very much important. Clients are being served by the employees of the organization. If the employees are not satisfied they will not work properly. If their work environment is not suitable for them they will not stay in that organization. So HR manager should keep in mind about the employees satisfaction and motivation to accomplish their goals and objectives to cause a high turn over every year.

Theories of Growth, Loss and Stress

Theories of Growth, Loss and StressTheories ar apply to explain the characteristics and circumstances of individual. Theories look at serviceman growth and tuition managing loss and trade managing evince and behaviourPsychoanalytical TheoryThis antenna looks at the underlying unconscious processes in individuals. Ideas schooled by Sigmund Freud.Sigmund Freud he stated the belief that the churl is born with basic animal instincts that get at the unconscious level of thought. These instincts require immediate gratification. victimization depends in part on transforming these animal needs into socially acceptable, rational behaviour. The scope of potential behaviour is very broad at birth and whence becomes increasingly reduced in scope, fixed in form and regulate to conform to social norms (Boundless, 2017).Eriksons Psychosocial TheoryEriksons theory is reard on the psychoanalytical approach to human study, founded by Sigmund Freud.Erikson hoped that the process of so cializing the child into a given culture occurs as the person passes through eight innately determined, sequential stages. Although he recognized the individuals instinctual drives, Erikson emphasized the childs interaction with the environment (Erikson, 1959). For Erikson, the terminations of after childhood washstand undo the genius foundations built earlier in life story (Boundless, 2017).Behaviourist theoryThis is used to describe human behaviour. The fantasy is that all human behaviour can be understood as a result of learning. There are two types of learning clear conditioning inducing a natural reflex response to a stimulus and Operant conditioning using reward and punishment to metamorphose behaviour (McLeod, 2017). Behaviourism helps to modify behaviour by using operant conditioning. E.g. if a client does something wrong, they should be told of so that they do not fictionalise their wrong doings. At the same time we offer some rewards for true behaviour to reinforc e those behaviours.Humanistic TheoryThis theory tries to assure human development according to how the self develops. Sense of self in toll of self-concepts, and self-esteem is developed right from childhood. Self-concept is about how we see ourselves.eg(female, tall, brown-eyed, skills and competences, being kind, incertain outgoing, lively, thoughtful, honest etc., fire fighter, doctor, brother sister etc. Self-esteem refers to how we go away about ourselves. How much value we give to ourselves and how lovable and likeable we believe ourselves to be. The self-esteem can be shattered depending on how individuals are treated. If discriminated against, ridiculed, neglected criticised,individuals will develop a low self-esteem (AQA,2017).NatureThis story of behaviour and personality development focuses on what we are born with. This intromit characteristics like Left-handedness, intelligence, susceptibility to certain illnesses, temperament (shy, withdrawn, or outgoing and conf ident). genteelnessRefers to all that happens within the environment. It involves the way someone is brought up and the way they are treated by parents, teachers and peers. All these influence behaviour and development and goes towards edifice a personality.Piagets Cognitive-Developmental Theory Cognitive theory is involved with aspects on an individuals cognitive processes that are involved with learning, thinking, knowing about, reflecting on, and understanding the world. It involves the study of our thinking, memory, intelligence, perception, problem resolving power and reasoning. Piaget described that in different stages of a person life they would develop skills in reasoning and comprehension. The stages he compiled are as follows (Learning-theories, 2017)a. Sensorimotor development (0-2 years). As an infant the person exercises rudimentary sensory (seeing touch, hearing, tasting, smelling) and motor (kicking, punching, sorrowful around, hitting objects) awareness and functi ons al well-nigh exclusively by means of reflex(prenominal) responses. The child cannot think abstractly.b. Preoperational thought (2-7 years). The person is now a child and butts an increase in language abilities and concepts become more elaborate. However, the child can only view the world from its own perspective. Their intellectual state is immature.c. concrete operations (7-11 years). As an older child the ability to consider the viewpoints of others and understand relational concepts is evident. However, the child cannot will struggle to solve problems of an abstract constitution (Learning-theories.com, 2017).d. Formal operations (11-15). Now an adolescent the person is able to demonstrate abstract thinking and scientific problem-solving strategies emerge. This theory informs health and social dispense professionals to understand the level of thinking of individuals with learning difficulties who may have a lower mental age in relation to their physical aid. book communi cation techniques are required to reach out to them.Managing loss and alternate mixture management is a basic skill in which most leaders and managers need to be competent. This theory looks at the basic principles of change management, and how to apply them People react differently to change when it occurs because of differences in our personality and our inner conflicts as proposed by Erikson in his theory of psychosocial development. Change ofttimes involves a loss, and people go through the loss curve. Expectations need to be managed realistically. Fears have to be dealt with by giving people honest information and also to be opened about the facts (North West NHS Academy, 2017). Avoid dead reckoning and meet their unrealistic expectations. Major changes in our lives may have a positive impact depending on the ways of coping. On the other hand, major(ip) change in our lives can lead to stress and loss of agency depending on our abilities to cope with them.Managing stress and behaviourFrom the biological point of view, stress causes the release of adrenalin and noradrenalin and cortisol (hormones). Adrenalin and noradrenalin make us scent agitated and uncomfortable, while prolonged secretion of cortisol is associated with depression. However 2 people can be exposed to the same stressful event and react differently. This can be explained by the cognitive approach. For example if a negative event happens, the stress response if mild for someone whose thoughts are along the lines of positive thinking. For example if they think it is an opportunity or a challenge, rather than a threat. The stress response will be grim for someone who thinks that this is the end of the line (Schneiderman et Al, 2017).Choice and InteractionThis focus on the belief that people can take control of their own lives base on the choices they make. Nonetheless, others believe that everything in life is fixed by spirit and nurture. In most cases, people believe that human life tak e to the woods involves an interaction of nature, nurture and the decisions and choices we make. For instance, if performing prayers (5) times daily is part of your environment, your genes may make you urge to do your prayers. However your choice and interaction depends on your reaction (Pearson Education, 2017).Health care professionals need to know these theories in edict to understand different personalities and understanding of how individuals may react differently to life situations.ReferencesAQA. (2017). The Humanistic Approach AQA B Psychology. online usable at http//aqabpsychology.co.uk/2010/07/the-humanistic-approach/ Accessed 4 Feb. 2017.Boundless. (2017). Freudian Psychoanalytic Theory of Personality. online Available at https//www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/personality-16/psychodynamic-perspectives-on-personality-77/freudian-psychoanalytic-theory-of-personality-304-12839/ Accessed 4 Feb. 2017.Development through the life stages. ( 2017). 1st ed. ebook London Pearson Education. Available at http//www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/AssetsLibrary/SECTORS/ occupation/Sample%20pages%20(for%20Ed%20Supplier%20sites)/Newsamplecontentfor2010/BTECNationalHealthandSocialCare-SampleStudentBookMaterial.pdf Accessed 4 Feb. 2017.Erikson, E. H. (1959) Identity and the Life Cycle. New York International Universities Press.Learning-theories.com. (2017). play THEORY OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT (PIAGET). online Available at https//www.learning-theories.com/piagets-stage-theory-of-cognitive-development.html Accessed 4 Feb. 2017.Managing Change Five Basic Principles. (2017). 1st ed. ebook NHS North West Leadership Academy. Available at http//www.nwacademy.nhs.uk/sites/default/files/0f_1722011_managing_change_5_basic_principles.pdf Accessed 4 Feb. 2017.McLeod, S. (2017). Behaviorism Simply Psychology. online Simplypsychology.org. Available at http//www.simplypsychology.org/behaviorism.html Accessed 4 Feb. 2017.Schneiderman, N., Ironson, G. and D. Siegel, S. (2017). STRESS AND HEALTH Psychological, Behavioral, and Biological Determinants. Annual Review of clinical Psychology, 1, pp.607-628.

Financial Analysis for Mining Project

m championtary Analysis for Mining cypherDefinition of Project Finance pecuniary institutions use a detail type of lending known as shake off pay when put downation a developing dig forge. The contributeword is repaid from the interchange devolves gene layd by the meet with no recourse, or only throttle recourse, to the confede proportionalityn as a whole. In non-recourse lending, no tangible summations know until the mental process is brought into output signal.Clearly the lender pass on be exposed to solely the risks associated with the swan which could result in revenue being insufficient to avail debt. Banks forget thus always take a conservative bearing when evaluating the sparing viability of a disgorge and whitethorn look to the trade union movement sponsor to provide incorpo prescribed guarantees for the impart. If the sponsor is a junior comp some(prenominal) with gnomish or no collateral, the role of government-backed guarantees becomes alpha .Project finance is non quick gettable to junior companies with proven deposits but no ope mark end product. These companies may instead generate monetary funds from the fairness market to bring the labour to the stage of being a viable operation. erstwhile steady nones flows get hold of been cooked, debt finance indeed becomes both possible and attractive and is utilise to develop the project to its optimum po extial.Project finance is in addition apply to develop a particular component of well established operations, much(prenominal) as new digging equipment, the refilling of old or the sink of new shaft systems, or upgrading of a treatment go under.Why Project Finance?Mining projects argon great(p)-intensive ventures with an inherently high risk, and as much(prenominal) argon often not deemed sufficiently book of factsworthy to obtain handed-down financing. The project sponsors may be unwilling to carry the risks and abide the debt obligations associated with conventional financing even if it is available. Project finance is an attractive alternative as it in allows the risks associated with the project to be sh ard with the principal lender.The principal(prenominal) overhaul of non-recourse patronage is that the sponsor has no obligation to service the debt if hard bullion flows generated through tap operations are insufficient to cover the principal and amour payments on the give. The lender has the security of a collateral guarantee from the sponsor and an economic completion demonstrate (ECT) if a project is being developed from the feasibility stage.An ECT acts as a safeguard for the lender against any flaws in the feasibility paper encountered during the traceion phase and over the start-up period of the project. Once the project has passed the ECT then the guarantee falls away, and the only asset the slang mickle claim is the actual cash flow itself.Sponsors typi bawly seek to finance the development and structure tolls of a dig project on a highly geared basis, often much or less 60% to 70% debt. Such financing permits the sponsor to put a couple of(prenominal)er funds at risk and develop the project without diluting its equity enthronisation in the venture.Project finance piece of tail besides lead to reductions in the embody of crown, as lower personify, taxation-deductible interest is employ rather than high comprise, taxable exceeds on equity. Financing should be structured to maximise tax benefits and ensure that all available tax benefits are taken advantage of by the sponsor.Project Financing ParticipantsSponsor/DeveloperThe sponsor or developer of a archeological site project is the organising body that controls and has an equity interest in the company or other entity that owns the project. In mining projects there is often to a greater extent than one sponsor, and these will commonly join together under a joint-venture agreement to var. a single corpora tion/ partner in crimeship that will fundamentally function as the project owner.A joint-venture agreement moldiness be care adequatey worn-out up with legal involvement and essentialiness clearly state the respective rights and responsibilities to the project of the parties involved.LenderThe lender of project financing is a fiscal institution or group of fiscal institutions that provide the upper-case letter loan to the project company. Lenders are usually corporate investment banking groups, though NGO involvement in project finance is important in developing domain countries. Due to the non-recourse nature of project finance, the lender takes a security interest in all of the project assets.GovernmentIf the sponsor is a junior company with little or no collateral, governments may be affect to provide the lender with a guarantee on the loan. This practice is particularly common in the precedent Soviet Union region, where formerly state- possess projects now seeking to d evelop in the private sector are backed by national governments in their applications for project finance.An Introduction to mannequin Metal Project Finance February 1, 2010 inventory to Project FinanceThe development of a project to the stage where project finance becomes viable involves going through the following stages choice definition drilling of exploration target forward feasibility study and project development expenditurefull feasibility study and nurture enrolment.Preliminary Feasibility StudyOnce an economic mineral resource has been identified by an exploration group, a preliminary feasibility study is undertaken by a small group of experienced professionals to settle if barely expenditure on the project is justified. The foundation of the pre-feasibility study is the development of a geological toughie which forms the basis of the reserve estimation.Geostatistical techniques peck then be applied to determine if the deposit has been correctly sampled and provide an indication of the disbelief associated with the estimated grade. The whole integrity of a project will be called into principal if the geostatisticians have to place any qualification on the reliability of the sampling programme.Once the geometric form and size of it of the deposit and the concentration of the mineral have been established, an sign design for the mine and mineral affect stages can be considered. It is particularly important that the rate of issue should be on a scale which is appropriate to the size of the ore body. A mine liveness much in excess of 10 old age does not promote the net present value (NPV) of the project, while too goldbrick a mine feel does not permit adequate return on capital.A simple discounted cash flow analysis establish on some broadly based design assumptions can then be set up, provided the reserve estimation is reliable. This will establish the overall pecuniary viability of the project and allows a basic sensitivity analysi s to be undertaken. honest Feasibility StudyMost junior companies do not have the resources required to meet the high cost of generating all the data necessary to undertake a full feasibility study and then fund the study itself. This phase of project development is often funded by convey on board a study joint venture partner or by raising finance through share issues on the stock market.Essentially, the good component of the prospectus for a market itemisation on one of the senior stock exchanges involves the preparation of a pre-feasibility study. Typically, a junior company with a proven deposit will feat to establish a production capability once equity funding has been obtained. This will provide literal for a full feasibility study. in the lead a mining project can proceed from the exploration and rating stage to full-scale production, all available data and relevant factors are compiled and evaluated as part of the full feasibility study. This should analyse every sk ilful, financial and other aspects of the project. The major topics that are pass judgment to be covered holdgeologygrade and reserve estimationmining system and planmineral processing design plan and test resultscapital cost, taxation and royal family assumptions direct cost estimatesproduct price assumptions and negotiated exchanges contractsenvironmental considerations and operating permits andfinancial mouldling.Typically, a full feasibility study would involve a team of at least 10 professionals who could take up to a year to complete the task. It would be utilize as a draught when calling for tenders and awarding multi-million dollar contracts. data MemorandumAn development memorandum builds on the full feasibility study and results in the document required by the bank in any application for debt finance. While this document would incorporate a full technical feasibility study, a bank would also require background randomness on the borrower.This accommodates audited company counts, a profile of the company structure and senior personnel, the legal framework of the company, the proposed loan cost and all the necessary knowledge on exactly how the loan will be administered, controlled and protected. This material is all incorporated in the development memorandum.Sensitivity analysis would be undertaken on the financial warning and detect parameters such as operating be and capital cost would be varied. Clearly much greater confidence will be place on estimates provided by an experienced mining company than junior companies with no production experience.While junior companies can hire consultants to provide technical reports covering operating and capital be agreeable to the lender, they will fate to assemble an experienced management team. Getting a mine and processing plant to perform to their design capabilities is as much an art as a science. A proven track record is clearly an advantage.The information memorandum will also requir e an environmental audit to be carried out with specific reference to liability for previous mining activity. Superfund law in the US can hold lenders responsible for environmental impose on _or_ oppress at sites where loans have long since been repaid, or where degradation occurred beforehand it was owned by the mining company to which the bank has provided debt finance.The Lenders Decision Making figure outThe lender will initially review the submitted information memorandum and it is then frequent practice to hire an supreme consultant to perform a due-diligence test or prepare an independent feasibility study. Banks will construct their own financial ideals and carry out detailed sensitivity analyses. capableness risks mustiness(prenominal) be identified and quantified prior to committing to a project.Given the design of independent and interdependent variables present in a mining operation, it is kinda impossible to envisage all possible scenarios that could prevai l during actual mining. three-card monte Carlo techniques are some metres employ to simulate some of the possibilities, but these assume the statistical independence of the parameters, which is clearly not valid.Once the project finance analysts have reviewed and accepted the information memorandum, their findings will be presented to a credit committee which is responsible for the ultimate accept/reject decision. The background information on the borrower and credit guarantees are particularly important at this stage.The single-valued function of ModellingThe size and complexity of a projects financing requires accurate financial analysis, and modelling plays a vital role in charting a projects cash flows. Both the lender and sponsor alike need to establish that in store(predicate) revenues will be of sufficient magnitude to meet loan repayments on catalogue while still producing a residual profit for the sponsor.Discounted cash flow (DCF) modelling thus forms an integral part of the preliminary and full feasibility studies and allows the economic viability of a project with debt finance to be tested. currency flow modelling should be undertaken throughout project development, with an increasing take aim of detail as more data becomes available. A preliminary feasibility should include a simple DCF model that allows the overall financial viability of the proposed operation to be established.By the time a project reaches full feasibility level, detailed engineering studies and market evaluations will have been undertaken and capital costs, operating costs, and predicted sales levels can be defined with confidence. A full feasibility cash flow model will thus be more refined and will incorporate tax and royalty formulae and full project financing scenarios. A detailed sensitivity analysis will also be included.In evaluating an information memorandum, the lender will scrutinise the cash flow model of the project and employ independent consultants to verify the cost assumptions employ. The lender will perform a risk analysis on the model inputs and analyse the project financing component in installiness to determine the banks optimum lending scenario.DCF Analysis and the Time Value of silverThe principle of discounting cash flows is based on the logic that funds real in the future is worth less than that kindred meter certain today, due to the opportunity of earning supererogatory revenue on that sum if it were to be invested elsewhere. Suppose there is a choice of receiving $1000 today and drop it or receiving $2000 in ten years time.Which is the most valuable proceeds? The answer clearly depends on the prevailing interest rate. If it happens to be 5%, the money would be worth $1629 at the end of ten years and so it would be better to wait. On the other hand, if the current rate happens to be 10% the sum would be worth $2594 in ten years time and so it would be preferable to take the money now and invest it. The break-eve n interest rate in this scenario is about 7.2%.Modelling incremental discounted cash flows analyses the financial viability of a project by not only testing that generated revenues are substantially greater than costs and debt service requirements, but also by measuring the present value of those profits. The cardinal philosophy in DCF analysis is that the project is to be compared with investing the same stream of cash flows elsewhere. One of the essential questions in DCF analysis is how to take away the discount rate.Discounted cash flows can be used to determine the dough Present Value of the project, which is essentially a present valuation of the potential of the deposit to generate future profits. NPV is reason as followsProjects with an NPV greater than zero(a) will adduce greater revenues than their costs at the minimum acceptable rate of return (the discount or hurdle rate), and mutually pocket investment opportunities are ranked by magnitude of NPV.The Internal st ep of Return (IRR) and Payback Period of a project can also be calculated from a model of future cash flows. IRR is essentially the discount rate at which NPV at time zero of all cash flows is equal to zero, and is calculated as followsA project is useful if the IRR exceeds the opportunity cost of capital (the projects discount rate), and mutually exclusive scenarios are ranked by magnitude of IRR.Payback period is simply the time taken for the initial capital investment to be recovered by the stream of yearbook positive cash flows, and is not frequently used alone for making an investment decision as it takes no account of the time value of money.Developing a Spreadsheet-Based ModelThe most important elements to remember when developing a spreadsheet model of projected cash flows are clarity, consistency, and flexibility.The spreadsheets used in some projects can be very wide and complicated, with entries going from page to page. Spreadsheet cells call for results from other ce lls which in their turn call other cells. It is not always easy to follow the logic of the step being carried out and, when the spreadsheet is very convoluted, there is a real contingency of artefacts being introduced. Even if there are none, it becomes very difficult to test the projects sensitivity to input parameters. at that place is great benefit to be gained from a consistent basic layout with a clear flow of logic throughout. input pages, counts, and output reports should be kept in separate areas. This course has sedulous the use of IC-MinEval, a purpose-designed software package for the financial evaluation of mining projects.IC-MinEval automates all the stages required to produce an Excel-based DCF model of a mining project through a serial publication of clearly defined identity card- drive forms that prompt the exploiter to enter all the necessary technical and financial variables. Once the cardinal technical and financial data has been entered, it is checked and a comprehensive series of Visual Basic routines ensures that a set of Excel worksheets are generated to form a customised DCF model.The DCF method of analysis has the advantage that a model can be constructed which reflects the elemental technical features of the project. This does, however, require a level of knowledge about the operation which may not be available impertinent the company, but it is still possible to develop a model based on comparative scenarios which can provide the basis for a preliminary valuation. This is the approach followed by IC-MinEval and adopted in this course.The kickoff step in creating a spreadsheet cash flow model is to compile all available project information on an input sheet database. This includes all the technical information which will allow calculation of mine life, annual read-only storage production and annual production of saleable commodity. The input sheet must also contain project cost information to allow calculation of annual ca pital, operating, and beamation costs. Finally, financial data must be input, including sale price, tax and royalty rates, project discount rates, and project financing information.A separate series of worksheets can then be created to calculate the annual production, sales and costs. The results are then used to construct a model of the cash inflows and outflows in each year of the projects life.A mine life much in excess of 10 years does not elevate the NPV of the project, while too short a mine life does not permit adequate return on capital. A project with a very long potential lifespan should thus only be modelled over the first 10 to 15 years of its life. It is unlikely that a mine with a longer life could operate effectively without additional capitalisation and so the cash flow fore cats for the later years would be highly subjective in any case.Project Input entropyThe input data needed to construct a spreadsheet-based cash flow model is divided into project technical in formation and financial information. IC-MinEval has a series of input screens which prompt you for all the necessary data, navigated from an input menu screen (Figure 1). The basic technical inputs can be subdivided as followsgeneral project informationresource informationmining ratescostscommodity priceexpenditure andenvironmental and closure provisions.General InformationGeneral information is required on the commodity/ies, and on the mining method that is to be used to exploit the resource. The choice of mining method has important implications for the rate of production, equipment, capital expenditure and mining operating costs. The permitting and construction period also needs to be established in indian lodge to determine the resume pre-production period of the project, the time after the initial capital expenditure (capex) has been spent before production (and revenue) can begin. In terms of project finance, the end of this period signifies completion when the projects cash flows become the primary source of debt repayment.Resource InformationInformation is required on the size of the deposit, the grades, and several other mining parameters. The total mineralised volume of the deposit revealed by geostatistical evaluation can be multiplied by the specific sobriety of the particular ore-type to calculate the total in situ ore reserve tonnage. The expected mining recovery (the per centum of the in situ ore that can be mined) provided by the engineering study is multiplied by the total in situ ore tonnage to determine the total ore to be recovered.The expected dilution (the amount of waste rock that is erroneously mined as ore), stripping ratio (the amount of waste material needed to be removed for every unit of ore mined in surface operations), grade (average grade of ore mined that is higher than the economic cut-off) and plant recovery (the percentage of the commodity contained in the ore rock that can be extracted by the plant) are also required i n order to establish the quantity of the saleable commodity produced.Mining RateThe mining rate needs to be established because it directly affects the mine life and capex, as the more rock mined per year, the larger the processing plant and equipment that is required. In addition to the average rate during full production, it must also be established if the mining rate is to be varied over the first few years of production, to model a more realistic laggard start up rate. It is particularly important that the rate of production should be on a scale which is appropriate to the size of the ore body. A mine life much in excess of 10 years does not enhance the net present value of the project, while too short a mine life does not permit adequate return on capital.CostsThe reliability of a cash flow model often hinges on the accurate determination of the projects capex and operating costs. If these are known, or an accurate estimation is made from similar operations, then these figures can be entered directly. However, project costs are often not known with any degree of certainty during the construction of an early financial model. In this case, OHara cost formulae can be used to calculate rough estimates of capex and operating costs (OHara and Suboleski (1992)).CapexCapital costs (capex) are costs in a particular year that will produce benefits in later years. The major capital requirements in mining projects are the cost of constructing the mine site (including buy of mining equipment), mill and processing plant. Additional costs and expenses that will be incurred in developing a project are termed capital overheads and can be entered into the model as a percentage of the total capex. operate costsOperating costs (op costs) are costs that only produce a benefit for that year and are calculated annually. In order to establish the total operating costs per tonne of saleable commodity, the costs of mining ore, mining waste and processing must be established. th ere may be annual fixed operating costs (e.g. boldness costs, salaries, office overheads) that must also be incorporated into the model. If coal or an industrial mineral product is the commodity in question, an additional transport cost component must be established.Commodity PriceThe expected sale price(s) of the product(s) and how this/these will vary over the project life must be established. It must be decided whether the commodity/ies will be sold entirely on the spot market or whether a percentage will be forward sold at a different price. Hedging details must be incorporated into the model if forward sales are to be applied.ExpenditureThe model must reveal how capex payments are to be spread over the first few years of the project and the amount of working capital to be used must be established. The capex is unlikely to all be employed in the first year of the project, depending on delays and the construction period. Working capital is the capital reserve required for the da y-to-day running of the operation and can be expressed as a percentage of the annual operating costs, normally set at around 25%.Environmental and Closure nutritionA financial model should include the expected environmental costs and additional costs associated with the projects closure. This may incorporate a fixed gage payment at the end of the mine life to cover environmental rehabilitation costs, a sink fund at the beginning of production that acts as an environmental bond to cover rehabilitation costs, and annual environmental costs during production and after mining to cover on-going costs. It must be established how long after completion of mining the annual rehabilitation costs have to be paid.Basic Financial ParametersThe financial inputs to the model set the basic financial parameters of the project, such as tax and rising prices rate, depreciation, and project financing scenario (Table 1).Discount Rate and Cost of Capital on that point are two methods of discounting th at can be used to calculate the NPV in a financial model. The pre-determined discount rate can be used or the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) can be used. WACC is calculated as followsAs the NPV is calculated on the cash flows before funding but after tax, an allowance is made for the tax implications of interest payments on debt. The cost of debt is calculated asThe WACC thus varies according to the debt/equity ratio of the projects funding structure. The cost of equity is generally higher than the cost of debt, reflecting the higher rate of return required by the equity holders in comparison to the cheaper interest rate on debt. Thus the greater the percentage of total capex funded by debt, the lower the WACC and thus the more favourable the calculated NPV. This is an essential principal of project finance.Project Finance ParametersInput information is required to set up the financing structure of the project including the amount of debt and equity, interest rate and repay ment schedule.Capital structureThe debt/equity ratio and the size of debt will be decided by the lender. This can be expressed as a percentage of the total financing requirements that will be funded as debt. The optimum draw-down period for the debt funding will be agreed between the project sponsor and lender, and may be drawn out over as long a period as the first five years of the project.Loan type and repayment scheduleThe schedule for loan repayment needs to be established in order to complete the cash flow model. The number and size of loan repayments will be negotiated between the lender and sponsor, as will the prettify period, if any, before repayments must commence. Loan repayments can be made in equal instalments (straight loan) or made proportional to the production rate (production loan).There will be other cash flows associated with organising the project finance that must also be included in the early years of the model. These include an up-front fee by the bank for arranging the loan (a percentage of the total loan available), a commitment fee (an annual fee aerated on the amount of the loan that has not been used), fixed charges (for agents fees, legal documentation, independent reports, etc.) and contingency to act as a cushion against unexpected cost rises, etc. (a percentage of the total required funding).Loan interest rateThis is the annual rate of interest on the debt as set by the lender.Return on equityThis is the annual expected return on equity invested as funds. This can be calculated by a variety of methods including the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). It is often associate to the overall company gearing of the project sponsor.Demand for Nickel make pass of FormSession HeadingsBottom of FormIntroductionNickel is one of the more common elements in the composition of the earth, but it is sparingly distributed in the earths crust. Nickel is usually found in modest concentrations and occurs in articulation with a wide variety of other metals and non-metals. The worlds plate note note resources occur in two main geological settingsin secondary minerals such as garnierite and limonite contained in plate-bearing laterites andin sulfide minerals associated with mafic and ultramafic igneous rocks.The nickel grade of lateritic ore usually ranges from 1-2%, and that of sulphide ore from 1-4%.Nickel is of considerable economic and strategic importance to many an(prenominal) countries, its main use being a critical component in the development of metal alloys. More than 80% of the worlds nickel production is used in alloys, and about 60% of global nickel is used specifically for the manufacture of righteous steel (NIDI (2005)). Nickel is also used in the manufacture of Monel Metal, a corrosion-resistant alloy used by the shipbuilding industry, and is an important strategic metal. Throughout the early 1980s the growth in nickel production exceeded the growth in posit, but the late 80s and early 90s axiom t his trend reversed as the number of emerging new applications of stainless steel, combined with its rapidly-improving price competitiveness, generated a bear on growth in demand for nickel metal. Indeed, Chinas use of nickel-containing stainless steel and its use of primary nickel have grown dramatically and with impressive consistency over the finish fifteen years (NIDI (2004)). Nickel stocks were rapidly depleted over the affection years of the 2000s, but recovered during the 2008/9 world financial puzzle period.Concern over depleting reserves of sulphide ores, the traditional source of nickel metal, and high nickel prices led to renewed interest in nickel laterite ores that were previously thought too technologically difficult and costly to treat. The cosmos of High Pressure Acid Leaching (HPAL) as a large hydrometallurgical method of concentrating nickel metal and cobalt by-products from limonitic laterite ore appeared to enhance the feasibility of laterite deposits as a lo ng-term solution to the continuing demand for nickel. However, poor initial operating performances at major new HPAL processing plants have cast doubt over this technologys ability to provide a large-scale tot up of nickel while operating economically. So sulphide deposits remain the main source of nickel metal. The following working sessions therefore will abridge on sulphide nickel deposits and provide a review of the major technical aspects of nickel projects that must be taken into consideration in the economic analysis of such operations. Part 5 introduces a typical nickel sulphide case history with which to demonstrate the modelling of nickel project finance.Prices and MarketsThe nickel price is closely linked to the global demand for stainless steel which is in turn governed by industrial productiveness associated with the global economic climate. 2007-08 witnessed a huge fall in capital of the United Kingdom Metal Exchange (LME) nickel prices (Figure 1), principally due to the collapse of the world economy resulting in huge drop in demand for and production of stainless steel associated with the recession. 2009 has witnessed a modest resurgence in the LME nickel price as demand has outstripped production.Since 2002, a booming commodities sector, partly driven by the rapid growth of China, put substantial pressure on nickel suppliers to meet demand. This in turn had a huge dissemble on prices. However, forecasting forward much is dependent on how sustained the 2009 easing of the recession will be.The general trend of increasing nickel prices in through most of the mid 2000s, generated renewed interest in the nickel sector. Western Australia in particular witnessed significant increases in production over the past period, with several new major nickel sulphide and laterite projects arising. However, the new HPAL laterite operations in the region did not live up to expectations, with over-optimistic product

Literature Survey on Hydrogen Separation Technique

Literature position on Hydrogen Sepa dimensionn TechniqueLiterature review has been performed in rank to identify recent publications on heat content insularism methods, enthalpy solubility, stuffs and inventionions in research institutes and laboratories. The aim of the performed literature survey was to monitor recent world-wide literature and find out whether some of the developed and reported solutions major power possibly help to improve existing atomic number 1 time interval apprehension in PDh dust, enabling efficient complete insulation of enthalpy from either unwanted hydrocarbons.Literature survey on atomic number 1 insularism proficiencyBasic totallyy there ar four important methods applied to the legal judicial dissolution of vivid petroles in the attention intentness, adsorption, cryogenic and tissue layers.Pressure swing adsorption (prostate specific antigen) is a splosh purification process consisting of the removal of impurities on adsorbe nt beds. The common couch adsorbents and atom smasheres adsorbed atomic number 18 breakwaterecular sieves for carbon monoxide, activated carbon for carbonic acid gunman, activated aluminium oxide or te dioxide gel. Industrial prostate specific antigen plants consist of up to 12 adsorbers and a farseeing with the number of valves required this makes the system rather complicated and complex. The PSA process is unremarkably a repeating sequence of the following step adsorption at leave oblige, co-current depressurisation to ordinary air twitch, counter-current depressurisation to atmospheric public press chronicly starting at 10 % to 70 % of the commissariat insistency, counter-current purge with total heat enriched or harvest-feast turgidness at ambient squeeze, co-current pressure equalization and finally, co-current pressurisation with range or secondary process gas1. For total heat purification by PSA heat content purity is in soaring spirits but the amount of jilted henry is also relatively spicy (10 35 %). It seems also that cryogenic engineering cogency non be applicable for PDh process gas judicial dissolution. Cooling down the form will finally end in a immobile jet dis gear up and a gas phase. utilisation the squ atomic number 18(p) is to a considerableer extent difficult when comp atomic number 18d with liquid. During the survey it became evident that tissue layer engineering science is the most popular, rehearse and still investigating for the improvement process for enthalpy interval hence the focus of the study is mainly on this proficiency.The tissue layer dissolution process involves several elementary steps, which all everyplacewhelm the solution of atomic number 1 and its public exposure as atomic atomic number 1 through the tissue layer raft forcible. Nowadays, tissue layer technologies be becoming more(prenominal) shitly subprogram for time interval of wide v arying categorizations in the petro chemic related industries. According to Sutherland2 it is estimated that pot chemical substances and petrochemicals applications equal about(predicate) 40% of the tissue layer market in the whole chemicals constancy or about $ 1.5 billions, growing over 5 % per year. Membrane gas time interval is attractive beca intake of its simplicity and low energy cost.The advantages of using tissue layer gas breakup technologies could be summarized as followingContinuous and beak process, tissue layers do non require regene symmetryn, un homogeneous the adsorption or the intentness processes, which require regeneration step leading to the use of deuce solid beds or a solvent regeneration unit. Required filtration system is honest and in spunky-priced.Comp argond with conventional proficiencys, membranes rouse offer a straightforward, easy-to-ope calculate, low-maintenance process.Membrane process is simple, principally carried out at at mospheric conditions which, besides being energy efficient, bottomland be important for sensitive applications in pharmaceutical and food industry.The recuperation of components from a main stream using membranes fecal matter be through without substantial summing upal energy costs.Membrane is defined essentially as a barrier, which states 2 phases and restricts transport of various chemicals in a discriminating manner. A membrane stern be homogenous or heterogeneous, parallel or a bilaterally symmetrical in social social organisation, solid or liquid privy carry a positive or negative charge or be neutral or bipolar. Transport through a membrane rouse be affected by convection or by diffusion of individual jettyecules, induced by an electric field or concentration, pressure or temperature slope. It takes place when a whimsical force is applied to the components in the victuals. In most of the membrane processes, the tearaway(a) force is a pressure difference or a concentration (or activity) difference across the membrane. some other driving force in membrane time intervals is the electrical authority difference. This driving force only warps the transport of charged particles or molecules.The henry detachment factor is some propagation used to specify membrane quality. It is defined as followingwhere ni stands for moles of species i transferred through the membrane and ?pi stands for the fond(p) pressure difference of species i through the membrane.The membrane heaviness whitethorn vary from as small as 10 littlens to few ampere-second micrometers. Basic suits of membranes are presented in cast 4.Membranes in petrochemical industry are mainly used for concentration, purification and fractionation however they may be coupled to a chemical answer to shift the chemical symmetricalness in a combination defined as a membrane nuclear reactor. Using a membrane is adding costs to any process, then in set out to get the best the c ost issue a nonher advantages must thrash the added expenses equivalent material with a very profound insulation factor, noble course, lavishly quality membrane materials ( steadfast during many months of procedure). In a membrane musical interval reactor some(prenominal) constitutive(a) and in constitutional membranes john be used. Many industrial catalytic processes involve the combination of naughty temperature and chemically harsh milieus favouring so inorganic membranes due to their thermal stability, resistance to organic solvents, chlorine and other chemicals. Some promising applications using inorganic membranes include certain de henryation, atomic number 1ation and oxidation receptions like validation of butane from de atomic number 1ation of ethyl benzene, styrene ware from de henryation of ethyl benzene, deenthalpyation of ethane to ethane, oxidative coupling of methane etc. In membrane reactor two basic constructs piece of tail be distinguished as c an be seen in configuration 5.reaction and detachment fork up in one reactor (catalytic membrane reactor)reaction and interval are not combine and the reactants are recycled a foresighted a membrane system (membrane recycle reactor)Catalytic membrane reactor concept is used specially with inorganic membranes (ceramics, metals) and polymeric membranes where the throttle valve is coupled to the membrane. Membrane recycle reactor can be applied with any membrane process and casing of membranes. Most of the chemical reactions need gas pedal to enhance the reaction kinetics. The gun must be combined with the membrane system and various arrangements are possible, as can be seen in Figure 6. The advantage of the catalyst located intimate the bore of the piping is simplicity in formulation and carrying into action. When needed the catalyst could be easily replaced. In case of baksheesh layer filled with catalyst and membrane wall, the catalyst is immobilized onto the membra ne.Palladium has been cognize to be a exceedingly henry permeable and discriminating material since the 19th century. The existing Pd-establish membranes can be mainly classified into two types according to the structure of the membrane as (i) self-supporting Pd-establish membranes and (ii) tangled structures peaceful of thin Pd-based layers on permeable materials. Most self-supporting Pd-based membranes are moneymaking(prenominal)ly available in the forms that are easily integ directd into a legal detachment frame-up. However these membranes are relatively thick (50 mm or more) and and then the hydrogen integrate through them is limited. Thick palladium membranes are expensive and rather suitable for use in large scale chemical employment. For practical use it is necessary to develop separation units with reduced oppressiveness of the layer. An appendixal problem is that in order to pass water adequate mechanic strength, relatively thick holey supports have to be used. In the rifle decade a satisfying research has been carried out to achieve tall fluxes by depositing thin layers of Pd or Pd alloys on permeable supports like ceramics or untarnished make. A submicron thick and defect- relieve palladium-silver (Pd-Ag) alloy membrane was bring aboutd on a supportive microsieve by using microfabrication technique and seeed by Tong et al4. The technique also allowed fruition of a cast-iron wafer-scale membrane module which could be easily inserted into a membrane bearer to have gas-tight connections to outside. Fabricated membrane had a great voltageity for hydrogen purification and in application like dehydrogenation industry. One membrane module was investigated for a period of ca. degree centigrade0 hours during which the membrane experienced a change in gas type and its concentration as tumesce as temperature pass between 20 450 C. The mensurable outcomes showed no square reduction in flux or selectivity, suggesting thus ve ry severe membrane stability. The authors carried out experiments with varying hydrogen concentration in the feed from 18 to 83 kPa at 450 C to determine the steps contain H2 transport rate. It is assumed that the constructd membrane may be used as a membrane reactor for dehydrogenation reactions to synthesize graduate(prenominal) abide by products although its use may be limited due to mellowed pressures of tens of bars. courtly drawing of the hydrogen separation frame-up is presented in Figure 7. The membrane module was placed in a blameless marque toter installed in a temperature controlled oven to ensure isothermal operating theatre. The H2/He feed (from ccc to vitamin C ml/mol) was preheated in spirals placed in the uniform oven. The setup was running automatically for 24 h/day and could handle 100 recipes without user intervention.Tucho et al.5 performed microstructural studies of self- back up Pd / 23 wt. % Ag hydrogen separation membranes subjected to dissimila r heat treatments ( three hundred/four hundred/450 C for 4 days) and then runed for hydrogen suffusion. It was noted that changes in permeability were dependent on the treatment strain and temperature as headspring as membrane thickness. At towering temperatures large grain growth was observed and stress relaxation occurred. Nam et al.6 were able to fabricate a super electrostatic palladium alloy obscure membrane for hydrogen separation on a poriferous stainless steel support by the vacuum electro proof and laminating procedure. The membrane was manufactured without microstructural change therefore it was possible to obtain some(prenominal) full(prenominal) performance (above 3 months of mathematical process) and somatic and morphological stability of the membrane. It was observed that the obscure membrane had a force to pitchfork hydrogen from gas mixed bag with complete hydrogen selectivity and could be used to produce ultra-pure hydrogen for applications in mem brane reactor. Tanaka et al.7 aimed at the ameliorate thermal stability of meso permeable Pd-YSZ-g-Al2O3 tangled membrane. The im be thermal stability allowed operation at elevated temperature ( 500 C for 200 hours). This was probably the exit of meliorate fracture toughness of YSZ-g-Al2O3 layer and matching thermal elaboration coefficient between palladium and YSZ. Kuraoka, Zhao and Yazawa8 demonstrated that pore-filled palladium glass composite membranes for hydrogen separation nimble by electroless plating technique have both higher hydrogen permeance, and better mechanic properties than un back up Pd films. The like technique was applied by Paglieri et al.9 for plating a layer of Pd and then cop onto porous ?-substrate. Zahedi et al.10 developed a thin palladium membrane by depositing Pd onto a tungsten oxide WO3 modified porous stainless steel disc and reported that permeability measurements at 723, 773 and 823 K showed high permeability and selectivity for hydrogen. T he membrane was stable with regards to hydrogen for about 25 days. Certain effort has been performed for improving hydrothermal stability and application to hydrogen separation membranes at high temperatures. Igi et al.11 alert a hydrogen separation microporous membranes with raise hydrothermal stability at 500 C under a steamer lightsome pressure of three hundred kPa. Co-doped silicon oxide sol solutions with varying Co writing (Co / (Si + Co) from 10 to 50 mol. %) were prepared and used for manufacturing the membranes. The membranes showed increase hydrothermal stability and high selectivity and permeability towards hydrogen when compared with pure silicon dioxide membranes. The Co-doped silicon dioxide membranes with a Co newspaper of 33 mol. % showed the highest selectivity for hydrogen, with a H2 permeance of 4.00 x 10-6 (m3 (STP) (m s kPa)-1) and a H2/N2 permeance ratio of 730. It was observed that as the Co composition change magnitude as high as 33 %, the activ ation energy of hydrogen permeation decrease and the H2 permeance increased. Additional increase in Co concentration resulted in increased H2 activation energy and decreased H2 permeance. Due to high permselectivity of Pd membranes, high purity of hydrogen can be obtained directly from hydrogen containing inter diverseness at high temperatures without further purification providing if sufficient pressure incline is applied. Therefore it is possible to integrate the reforming reaction and the separation step in a single unit. A membrane social reformer system is simpler, more squeeze and more efficient than the conventional PSA system (Pressure quaver Adsorption) because stem reforming reaction of hydrocarbon provides and hydrogen separation process take place in a single reactor simultaneously and without a separate shift converter and a purification system. Gepert et al.12 have aimed at increment of heat-integrated confederation membrane reformer for decentralized hydrog en production and worked on composite ceramic capillaries ( do of ?-Al2O3) coated with thin palladium membranes for production of CO- extra hydrogen for PEM fuel mobile phones by alcohol reforming. The membranes were tested for pure hydrogen and N2 as well as for synthetic reformate gas. The process steps comprised the evaporation and overheat of the water/alcohol feed, water gas shift combined with highly selective hydrogen separation. The authors have center on the step touch on with the membrane separation of hydrogen from the reforming commixture and on the challenges and requirements of that process. The challenges encountered with the exploitation of hairlike pipage Pd membranes were as following long term temperature and pressure pass stability in a reformate gas standard pressure, the ability to withstand obsess heating up and cooling down to room temperature, avoidance of the administration of pin-holes during operation and the integration of the membranes into reactor housing. It was observed that palladium membranes should not be operated at temperatures below three hundred C and pressures lower than 20 bar, dapple the upper operating range is between 500 and 900 C. Alloying the membrane with squealer and silver extend their operating temperature down to a room temperature. The cosmos of silver into palladium membrane increases the lifetime, but also the costs when compared with copper. enlarge procedure of membrane manufacturing, integration into reformer unit and interrogatory is depict by the authors. established of the concept of the integrated reformer is shown in Figure 8. The membrane was integrated in a metal tube insert in electrically heated copper plates. Before entering the test tube, the gases were preheated to avoid local cooling of the membrane. Single gas measurements with pure N2 and H2 allowed the interrogation of the general performance of the membrane and the permselectivity for the respective gases to be re ached. Synthetic reformate gas consisting of 75 % H2, 23.5 % carbon dioxide and 1.5 % CO was used to get information about the performance. The membranes were tested between 370 450 C and pressures up to 8 bar. The authors concluded that in general the membranes have shown good performance in terms of permeance and permselectivity including operation under reformate gas conditions. However, several problems were indicated concerning long-term stability under authoritative reforming conditions, mainly related to structural nature (combination of variant materials ceramic, glaze, palladium resulted on incoherent authorization for causing membrane failure). At operation generation up to four weeks the nons assoil Pd layer remained essentially free from defects and pinholes.Han et al.13 have developed a membrane separation module for a power equivalent of 10 kWel. A palladium membrane containing 40 wt. % copper and of 25 mm thickness was bonded into a metal frame. The separation module for a capacity of 10 Nm3 h-1 of hydrogen had a diam of 10.8 cm and a length of 56 cm. Reformate fed to the modules contained 65 vol. % of hydrogen and the hydrogen recuperation through the membrane was in the range of 75 %. Stable operation of the membrane separation was achieved for 750 pressure swing tests at 350 C. The membrane separation device was integrated into a methanol fuel processor. Pientka et al.14 have use a c neglectd- carrell polystyrene foam (Ursa XPS NIII, porosity 97 %) as a membrane buffer for separation of (bio)hydrogen. In the foam the cell walls formed a structured complex of membranes. The cells served as pressure containers of garbled gases. The foam membrane was able to buffer the difference between the feed injection rate and the rate of consumption of the product. Using the difference in time-lags of different gases in polymeric foam, efficient gas separation was achieved during passing state and high purity hydrogen was obtained. Argonne Nati onal Laboratory (ANL) is mixed in developing dense hydrogen-permeable membranes for separating hydrogen from mixed gases, detailly product streams during coal gasification and/or methane reforming. Novel cermet (ceramic-metal composite) membranes have been developed. Hydrogen separation with these membranes is non-galvanic (does not use electrodes or external power supply to drive the separation and hydrogen selectivity is nearly 100 % because the membrane contain no interlink porosity). The membrane exploitation at ANL initially concentrated on a mixed proton/electron conductor based on BaCe0.8Y0.2O3-d (BCY), but it move to be insufficient to allow high non-galvanic hydrogen flux. To increase the electronic conductivity and thereby to increase the hydrogen flux the discipline center on various cermet membranes with 40-50 vol. % of metal or alloy dispersed in the ceramic matrix. Balachandran et al.15,16 exposit the development performed at ANL. The powder mixture for fabrica ting cermet membranes was prepared by mechanical mixing Pd (50 vol. %) with YSZ, after that the powder mixture was pressed into discs. Polished cermet membranes were affixed to one end of aluminum oxide tube using a gold casket for a seal (as can be seen in Figure 9). In order to measure the hydrogen permeation rate, the alumina tube was inserted into a furnace with a sealed membrane and the associated gas flow tubes.Hydrogen permeation rate for Pd/YSZ membranes has been measured as a function of temperature (500-900 C), uncomplete pressure of hydrogen in the feed stream (0.04-1.0 atm.) and membrane thickness ( 22-210 mm) as well as versus time during exposure to feed gases containing H2, CO, CO2, CH4 and H2S. The highest hydrogen flux was 20.0 cm3 (STP)/min cm2 for 22- mm thick membrane at 900 C using 100 % hydrogen as the feed gas. These results suggested that membranes with thickness In the experience decade Matrimid 5218 (Polyimide of 3,3,4,4-benzophenone tetracarboxylic dia nhydride and diamino-phenylindane) has attracted a lot of attention as a material for gas separation membranes due to the combination of relatively high gas permeability coefficients and separation factors combined with excellent mechanical properties, solubility in non-hazard organic solvents and commercial availability. Shishatskiy et al.18 have developed unsymmetrical flat sheet membranes for hydrogen separation from its mixtures with other gases. The composition and conditions of membrane grooming were optimized for pilot scale membrane production. The resulting membrane had a high hydrogen flux (1 m3 (STP)/m2h*bar) and selectivity of H2/CH4 at least 100, c support to the selectivity of Matrimid 5218, material used for asymmetric structure formation. The hydrogen flux through the membranes increased with the decrease of polymer concentration and increase of non-solvent concentration. In addition, the diverge of N2 blowing over the membrane surface (0, 2, 3, 4 Nm3 h-1 flow rat e) was canvas and it was proved that the selectivity of the membrane decreased with increase of the gas flow. The SEM image of the membrane supported by Matrimid 5218 is shown in Figure 10.The stability against hydrocarbons was tested by concentration of the membrane into the mixture of n-pentane/n-hexane/toluene in 111 ratio. Stability tests showed that the developed membrane was stable against mixtures of liquid hydrocarbons and could withstand persisting heating up to 200 C for 24 and 120 hours and did not lose gas separation properties after exposure to a mixture of liquid hydrocarbons. The polyester non-woven fabric used as a support for the asymmetric membrane gave to the membrane excellent mechanical properties and allowed to use the membrane in gas separation modules.Interesting report on development of compact hydrogen separation module called MOC (Membrane On Catalyst) with structured Ni-based catalyst for use in the membrane reactor was presented by Kurokawa et al19. I n the MOC concept a porous support itself had a function of reforming catalyst in addition to the role of membrane support. The integrated structure of support and catalyst make the membrane reformer more compact because the separate catalysts placed well-nigh the membrane modules in the conventional membrane reformers could be eliminated. In that approximation first a porous catalytic structure 8YSZ (mixture of NiO and 8 mol. % Y2O3-ZrO2 at the weight ratio 6040) was prepared as the support structure of the hydrogen membrane. The mixture was pressed into a tube closed at one end and sintered then in air. Slurry of 8YSZ was coated on the external surface of the porous support and heat-treated for alloying. Obtained module of size 10 mm outside and 8 mm inside(a) diameter, 100 ccc mm length and the membrane thickness was 7 20 mm were heated in flowing hydrogen at 600 C for 3 hours to reduce NiO in the support structure into Ni before use (the porosity of the support after reducti on was 43 %). A stainless steel cap and pipe were bonded to the module to introduce H2 into the inside of the cannular module. Figure 11 presents the conceptual structure be after of the MOC module as compared with the structure of the conventional membrane reformer.The sample module in the reaction chamber was placed in the furnace and heated at 600 C, pre-heated hydrogen (or humidified methane) was supplied inside MOC at the pressure of 0.1 MPa and the permeated hydrogen was collected from the outside chamber nearly the module at ambient pressure. The 100 ccc mm long modules with 10 mm membrane showed hydrogen flux of 30 cm3 per split second per cm2 which was two quantify higher than the permeability of the conventional modules with palladium based alloy films. Membrane On Catalyst modules have a great potential to be applied to membrane reformer systems. In this concept a porous support itself has a function of reforming catalyst in addition to the role of membrane support. It seems that Membrane On Catalyst modules have a great potential to be applied to membrane reformer systems.Amorphous alloy membranes dispassionate primarily of Ni and early passage metals (ETM) are an inexpensive alternative to Pd-based alloy membranes, and these materials are therefore of particular interest for the large-scale production of hydrogen from carbon-based fuels. Catalytic membrane reactors can produce hydrogen directly from coal-derived synthesis gas at four hundredC, by combining a commercial water-gas shift (WGS) catalyst with a hydrogen-selective membrane. Three main classes of membrane are capable of operating at the high temperatures demanded by existing WGS catalysts ceramic membranes producing pure hydrogen via ion-transfer implement at 600 C, alloy membranes which produce pure hydrogen via a solution-diffusion appliance between 300 500 C and microporous membranes, typically silicon dioxide or carbon, whose purity depends on the pore size of the membra ne and which operate over a wide temperature range dependent on the membrane material. In order to explore the suitability of Ni-based amorphous alloys for this application, the thermal stability and hydrogen permeation characteristics of Ni-ETM amorphous alloy membranes has been examined by Dolan et al20. Fundamental limitation of these materials is that hydrogen permeability is inversely proportional to the thermal stability of the alloy. Alloy frame is therefore a compromise between hydrogen production rate and durability. Amorphous Ni60Nb(40-x)Zr(x) membranes have been tested at 400C in pure hydrogen, and in simulated coal-derived gas streams with high steam, CO and CO2 levels, without severe degradation or corrosion-induced failure. The authors have concluded that Ni-Nb-Zr amorphous alloys are therefore prospective materials for use in a catalytic membrane reactor for coal-derived syngas. Much attention has been given to inorganic materials such as zeolite, silicon dioxide, z irconia and titania for development of gas- and liquid- separation membranes because they can be utilise under harsh conditions where organic polymer membranes cannot be applied. Silica membranes have been analyse extensively for the preparation of various kinds of separation membranes hydrogen, CO2 and C3 isomers.Kanezeashi21 have proposed silicon dioxide networks using an organo-inorganic crisscross alkoxide structure containing the organic groups between two te atoms, such as bis(triethoxysilyl)ethane (BTESE) for development of highly permeable hydrogen separation membranes with hydrothermal stability. The concept for improvement of hydrogen permeability of silica membrane was to shape a loose-organic-inorganic hybridisation silica network using mentioned BTESE (to shift the silica networks to a larger pore size for an increase in H2 permeability). A hybrid silica layer was prepared by coating a silica-zirconia liaise layer with a BTESE polymer sol followed by drying and calcination at 300C in nitrogen. A thin, continuous separation layer of hybrid silica for selective H2 permeation was observed on top of the SiO2-ZrO2 intermediate layer as presented in Figure 12. Hybrid silica membranes showed a very high H2 permeance, 1 order of magnitude higher ( 10-5 mol m-2 s-1 Pa-1) than previously reported silica membranes using TEOS (Tetraethoxysilane). The hydrothermal stability of the hybrid silica membranes due to the presence of Si-C-C-Si bonds in the silica networks was also confirmed.Nitodas et al.22 for the development of composite silica membranes have used the method of chemical vapour witness (CVD) in the counter current configuration from TEOS and ozone mixtures. The experiments were conducted in a level hot-wall CVD quartz reactor (Figure 13) under controlled temperature conditions (523 543 K) and at various reaction times (0 -15 hours) and differential pressures across the substrate sides using two types of substrates a porous Vycor tube and alumina (g-Al2O3) nanofiltration (NF) tube. The permeance of hydrogen and other gases (He, N2, Ar, CO2) were measured in a home-made apparatus (able to operate under high vacuum conditions 10-3 Torr, feed pressure up to 70 bar) and the separation qualification of the composite membranes was determined by calculating the selectivity of hydrogen over He, N2, Ar, CO2. The in-situ monitoring of gas permeance during the CVD development of nanoporous membranes created a tool to detect pore size alterations in the micro to nanometer scale of thickness. The highest permeance prizes in both modified and unrestricted membranes are observed for H2 and the lowest for CO2. This indicated that the developed membranes were thinkerl candidates for H2/CO2 separations, like for example in reforming units of inbred gas and biogas (H2/CO2/CO/CH4). mope et al.23 have studied the separation characteristics and dynamics of hydrogen mixture produced from natural gas reformer on tubular type methyltri ethoxysilane (MTES) silica / ?-alumina composite membranes. The permeation and separation of CO pure gas, H2/CO (50/50 vol. %) double star program mixture and H2/CH4/CO/CO2 (69/3/2/26 vol. %) tetrad mixture was investigated. The authors developed a membrane process suitable for separating H2 from CO and other reformate gases (CO2 or CH4) that showed a molecular sieving effect. Since the permeance of pure CO on the MTES membrane was very low (CO 4.79 6.46 x 10-11 mol m-2 s-1 Pa-1), comparatively high hydrogen selectivity could be obtained from the H2/CO mixture (separation factor 93 110). This meant that CO (which shall be eliminated before entering fuel cell) can be unaffectionate from hydrogen mixtures using MTES membranes. The permeance of the hydrogen quartet mixture on MTES membrane was 2.07 3.37 x 10-9 mol m-2 s-1 Pa-1 and the separation factor of H2 / (CO + CH4 + CO2) was 2.61 10.33 at 323 473 K (Figure 14). The permeation and selectivity of hydrogen were increased w ith temperature because of activation of H2 molecules and unfavourable conditions for CO2 adsorption. Compared to other impurities, CO was most successfully removed from the H2 mixture.The MTES membranes showed great potential for hydrogen separation from reforming gas with high selectivity and high permeance and therefore they have good potential for fuel cell systems and for use in hydrogen stations. According to the authors, the silica membranes are expected to be used for separating hydrogen in reforming environment at high temperatures.Silica membranes prepared by the CVD or sol-gel methods on mesoporous support are effective for selective hydrogen permeation, however it is cognize that hydrogen-selective silica materials are not thermally stable at high temperatures. Most researchers reported a loss of permeability of silica membranes steady 50 % or greater in the first 12 hours on exposure to moisture at high temperature. Much effort has been spend on the improvement of the stability of silica membranes. Gu et al.24 have investigated a hydrothermally stable and hydrogen-selective membrane composed of silica and alumina prepared on a macroporous alumina support by CVD in an inert standard melodic phrase at high temperature. Before the deposition of the silica-alumina composite multiple rate layers of alumina were coated on the alumina support with three sols of diminish particle sizes. The resulting supported composite silica-alumina membrane had high permeability for hydrogen (in the order of 10-7 mol m-2 s-1 Pa-1) at 873 K. Significantly the composite membrane exhibited very much(prenominal) higher stability to water vapour at the high temperature of 873 K in comparison to pure silica membranes. The entrance of alumina into silica made the silica structure more stable and slowed down the silica disintegration process. As mentioned, silica membranes produced by sol-gel technique or by CVD applied for gas separation, specially for H2 produc tion are quite stable in dry gases and exhibit high separation ratio, but lose the permeability when used in the steamed gases because of sintering or tightening. ThiLiterature Survey on Hydrogen Separation TechniqueLiterature Survey on Hydrogen Separation TechniqueLiterature review has been performed in order to identify recent publications on hydrogen separation methods, hydrogen solubility, materials and concepts in research institutes and laboratories. The aim of the performed literature survey was to monitor recent planetary literature and find out whether some of the developed and reported solutions might possibly help to improve existing hydrogen separation concept in PDh system, enabling efficient complete separation of hydrogen from all unwanted hydrocarbons.Literature survey on hydrogen separation techniqueBasically there are four important methods applied to the separation of gases in the industry absorption, adsorption, cryogenic and membranes.Pressure swing adsorption (PSA) is a gas purification process consisting of the removal of impurities on adsorbent beds. The usual adsorbents and gases adsorbed are molecular sieves for carbon monoxide, activated carbon for CO2, activated alumina or silica gel. Industrial PSA plants consist of up to 12 adsorbers and along with the number of valves required this makes the system rather complicated and complex. The PSA process is usually a repeating sequence of the following steps adsorption at feed pressure, co-current depressurisation to intermediate pressure, counter-current depressurisation to atmospheric pressure usually starting at 10 % to 70 % of the feed pressure, counter-current purge with hydrogen enriched or product gas at ambient pressure, co-current pressure equalisation and finally, co-current pressurisation with feed or secondary process gas1. For hydrogen purification by PSA hydrogen purity is high but the amount of jilted hydrogen is also relatively high (10 35 %). It seems also that cryoge nic technology might not be applicable for PDh process gas separation. Cooling down the mixture will finally end in a solid jet fuel and a gas phase. manipulation the solid is more difficult when compared with liquid. During the survey it became evident that membrane technology is the most popular, used and still investigating for the improvement process for hydrogen separation therefore the focus of the study is mainly on this technique.The membrane separation process involves several elementary steps, which include the solution of hydrogen and its diffusion as atomic hydrogen through the membrane bulk material. Nowadays, membrane technologies are becoming more frequently used for separation of wide varying mixtures in the petrochemical related industries. According to Sutherland2 it is estimated that bulk chemicals and petrochemicals applications represent about 40% of the membrane market in the whole chemicals industry or about $ 1.5 billions, growing over 5 % per year. Membran e gas separation is attractive because of its simplicity and low energy cost.The advantages of using membrane gas separation technologies could be summarized as followingContinuous and clean process, membranes do not require regeneration, unlike the adsorption or the absorption processes, which require regeneration step leading to the use of two solid beds or a solvent regeneration unit. Required filtration system is simple and inexpensive.Compared with conventional techniques, membranes can offer a simple, easy-to-operate, low-maintenance process.Membrane process is simple, loosely carried out at atmospheric conditions which, besides being energy efficient, can be important for sensitive applications in pharmaceutical and food industry.The recovery of components from a main stream using membranes can be through without substantial additional energy costs.Membrane is defined essentially as a barrier, which separates two phases and restricts transport of various chemicals in a select ive manner. A membrane can be homogenous or heterogeneous, symmetric or asymmetric in structure, solid or liquid can carry a positive or negative charge or be neutral or bipolar. Transport through a membrane can be affected by convection or by diffusion of individual molecules, induced by an electric field or concentration, pressure or temperature gradient. It takes place when a driving force is applied to the components in the feed. In most of the membrane processes, the driving force is a pressure difference or a concentration (or activity) difference across the membrane. some other driving force in membrane separations is the electrical potential difference. This driving force only influences the transport of charged particles or molecules.The hydrogen separation factor is sometimes used to specify membrane quality. It is defined as followingwhere ni stands for moles of species i transferred through the membrane and ?pi stands for the partial pressure difference of species i thr ough the membrane.The membrane thickness may vary from as small as 10 microns to few hundred micrometers. Basic types of membranes are presented in Figure 4.Membranes in petrochemical industry are mainly used for concentration, purification and fractionation however they may be coupled to a chemical reaction to shift the chemical equilibrium in a combination defined as a membrane reactor. Using a membrane is adding costs to any process, therefore in order to overcome the cost issue another advantages must overcome the added expenses like material with a very good separation factor, high flux, high quality membrane materials (stable during many months of operation). In a membrane separation reactor both organic and inorganic membranes can be used. Many industrial catalytic processes involve the combination of high temperature and chemically harsh environments favouring therefore inorganic membranes due to their thermal stability, resistance to organic solvents, chlorine and other ch emicals. Some promising applications using inorganic membranes include certain dehydrogenation, hydrogenation and oxidation reactions like formation of butane from dehydrogenation of ethyl benzene, styrene production from dehydrogenation of ethyl benzene, dehydrogenation of ethane to ethane, oxidative coupling of methane etc. In membrane reactor two basic concepts can be distinguished as can be seen in Figure 5.reaction and separation combined in one reactor (catalytic membrane reactor)reaction and separation are not combined and the reactants are recycled along a membrane system (membrane recycle reactor)Catalytic membrane reactor concept is used especially with inorganic membranes (ceramics, metals) and polymeric membranes where the catalyst is coupled to the membrane. Membrane recycle reactor can be applied with any membrane process and type of membranes. Most of the chemical reactions need catalyst to enhance the reaction kinetics. The catalyst must be combined with the membrane system and various arrangements are possible, as can be seen in Figure 6. The advantage of the catalyst located inside the bore of the tube is simplicity in preparation and operation. When needed the catalyst could be easily replaced. In case of top layer filled with catalyst and membrane wall, the catalyst is immobilized onto the membrane.Palladium has been cognise to be a highly hydrogen permeable and selective material since the 19th century. The existing Pd-based membranes can be mainly classified into two types according to the structure of the membrane as (i) self-supporting Pd-based membranes and (ii) composite structures composed of thin Pd-based layers on porous materials. Most self-supporting Pd-based membranes are commercially available in the forms that are easily integrated into a separation setup. However these membranes are relatively thick (50 mm or more) and therefore the hydrogen flux through them is limited. Thick palladium membranes are expensive and rather sui table for use in large scale chemical production. For practical use it is necessary to develop separation units with reduced thickness of the layer. An additional problem is that in order to have adequate mechanical strength, relatively thick porous supports have to be used. In the last decade a earthshaking research has been carried out to achieve higher fluxes by depositing thin layers of Pd or Pd alloys on porous supports like ceramics or stainless steel. A submicron thick and defect-free palladium-silver (Pd-Ag) alloy membrane was fabricated on a supportive microsieve by using microfabrication technique and tested by Tong et al4. The technique also allowed production of a rich wafer-scale membrane module which could be easily inserted into a membrane carrier to have gas-tight connections to outside. Fabricated membrane had a great potential for hydrogen purification and in application like dehydrogenation industry. One membrane module was investigated for a period of ca. 1000 hours during which the membrane experienced a change in gas type and its concentration as well as temperature cycling between 20 450 C. The measured results showed no significant reduction in flux or selectivity, suggesting thus very good membrane stability. The authors carried out experiments with varying hydrogen concentration in the feed from 18 to 83 kPa at 450 C to determine the steps modification H2 transport rate. It is assumed that the fabricated membrane may be used as a membrane reactor for dehydrogenation reactions to synthesize high value products although its use may be limited due to high pressures of tens of bars. Schematic drawing of the hydrogen separation setup is presented in Figure 7. The membrane module was placed in a stainless steel toter installed in a temperature controlled oven to ensure isothermal operation. The H2/He feed (from 300 to 100 ml/mol) was preheated in spirals placed in the same oven. The setup was running automatically for 24 h/day and coul d handle 100 recipes without user intervention.Tucho et al.5 performed microstructural studies of self-supported Pd / 23 wt. % Ag hydrogen separation membranes subjected to different heat treatments (300/400/450 C for 4 days) and then tested for hydrogen permeation. It was noted that changes in permeability were dependent on the treatment atmosphere and temperature as well as membrane thickness. At higher temperatures significant grain growth was observed and stress relaxation occurred. Nam et al.6 were able to fabricate a highly stable palladium alloy composite membrane for hydrogen separation on a porous stainless steel support by the vacuum electrodeposition and laminating procedure. The membrane was manufactured without microstructural change therefore it was possible to obtain both high performance (above 3 months of operation) and physical and morphological stability of the membrane. It was observed that the composite membrane had a capability to separate hydrogen from gas mix ture with complete hydrogen selectivity and could be used to produce ultra-pure hydrogen for applications in membrane reactor. Tanaka et al.7 aimed at the improved thermal stability of mesoporous Pd-YSZ-g-Al2O3 composite membrane. The improved thermal stability allowed operation at elevated temperature ( 500 C for 200 hours). This was probably the result of improved fracture toughness of YSZ-g-Al2O3 layer and matching thermal intricacy coefficient between palladium and YSZ. Kuraoka, Zhao and Yazawa8 demonstrated that pore-filled palladium glass composite membranes for hydrogen separation prepared by electroless plating technique have both higher hydrogen permeance, and better mechanical properties than unsupported Pd films. The same technique was applied by Paglieri et al.9 for plating a layer of Pd and then copper onto porous ?-substrate. Zahedi et al.10 developed a thin palladium membrane by depositing Pd onto a tungsten oxide WO3 modified porous stainless steel disc and reported that permeability measurements at 723, 773 and 823 K showed high permeability and selectivity for hydrogen. The membrane was stable with regards to hydrogen for about 25 days. Certain effort has been performed for improving hydrothermal stability and application to hydrogen separation membranes at high temperatures. Igi et al.11 prepared a hydrogen separation microporous membranes with heighten hydrothermal stability at 500 C under a steam pressure of 300 kPa. Co-doped silica sol solutions with varying Co composition (Co / (Si + Co) from 10 to 50 mol. %) were prepared and used for manufacturing the membranes. The membranes showed increased hydrothermal stability and high selectivity and permeability towards hydrogen when compared with pure silica membranes. The Co-doped silica membranes with a Co composition of 33 mol. % showed the highest selectivity for hydrogen, with a H2 permeance of 4.00 x 10-6 (m3 (STP) (m s kPa)-1) and a H2/N2 permeance ratio of 730. It was observed that as the Co composition increased as high as 33 %, the activation energy of hydrogen permeation decreased and the H2 permeance increased. Additional increase in Co concentration resulted in increased H2 activation energy and decreased H2 permeance. Due to high permselectivity of Pd membranes, high purity of hydrogen can be obtained directly from hydrogen containing mixture at high temperatures without further purification providing if sufficient pressure gradient is applied. Therefore it is possible to integrate the reforming reaction and the separation step in a single unit. A membrane reformer system is simpler, more compact and more efficient than the conventional PSA system (Pressure drop off Adsorption) because stem reforming reaction of hydrocarbon fuels and hydrogen separation process take place in a single reactor simultaneously and without a separate shift converter and a purification system. Gepert et al.12 have aimed at development of heat-integrated compact membrane refo rmer for decentralized hydrogen production and worked on composite ceramic capillaries (made of ?-Al2O3) coated with thin palladium membranes for production of CO-free hydrogen for PEM fuel cells by alcohol reforming. The membranes were tested for pure hydrogen and N2 as well as for synthetic reformate gas. The process steps comprised the evaporation and overheat of the water/alcohol feed, water gas shift combined with highly selective hydrogen separation. The authors have focused on the step refer with the membrane separation of hydrogen from the reforming mixture and on the challenges and requirements of that process. The challenges encountered with the development of capillary Pd membranes were as following long term temperature and pressure cycling stability in a reformate gas atmosphere, the ability to withstand frequent heating up and cooling down to room temperature, avoidance of the formation of pin-holes during operation and the integration of the membranes into reactor ho using. It was observed that palladium membranes should not be operated at temperatures below 300 C and pressures lower than 20 bar, succession the upper operating range is between 500 and 900 C. Alloying the membrane with copper and silver extend their operating temperature down to a room temperature. The introduction of silver into palladium membrane increases the lifetime, but also the costs when compared with copper. expatiate procedure of membrane manufacturing, integration into reformer unit and testing is described by the authors. Schematic of the concept of the integrated reformer is shown in Figure 8. The membrane was integrated in a metal tube embed in electrically heated copper plates. Before entering the test tube, the gases were preheated to avoid local cooling of the membrane. Single gas measurements with pure N2 and H2 allowed the testing of the general performance of the membrane and the permselectivity for the respective gases to be reached. Synthetic reformate ga s consisting of 75 % H2, 23.5 % CO2 and 1.5 % CO was used to get information about the performance. The membranes were tested between 370 450 C and pressures up to 8 bar. The authors concluded that in general the membranes have shown good performance in terms of permeance and permselectivity including operation under reformate gas conditions. However, several problems were indicated concerning long-term stability under existing reforming conditions, mainly related to structural nature (combination of different materials ceramic, glaze, palladium resulted on incoherent potential for causing membrane failure). At operation times up to four weeks the continuous Pd layer remained essentially free from defects and pinholes.Han et al.13 have developed a membrane separation module for a power equivalent of 10 kWel. A palladium membrane containing 40 wt. % copper and of 25 mm thickness was bonded into a metal frame. The separation module for a capacity of 10 Nm3 h-1 of hydrogen had a diam eter of 10.8 cm and a length of 56 cm. Reformate fed to the modules contained 65 vol. % of hydrogen and the hydrogen recovery through the membrane was in the range of 75 %. Stable operation of the membrane separation was achieved for 750 pressure swing tests at 350 C. The membrane separation device was integrated into a methanol fuel processor. Pientka et al.14 have utilized a closed-cell polystyrene foam (Ursa XPS NIII, porosity 97 %) as a membrane buffer for separation of (bio)hydrogen. In the foam the cell walls formed a structured complex of membranes. The cells served as pressure containers of unconnected gases. The foam membrane was able to buffer the difference between the feed injection rate and the rate of consumption of the product. Using the difference in time-lags of different gases in polymeric foam, efficient gas separation was achieved during fleeting state and high purity hydrogen was obtained. Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) is regard in developing dense hydrog en-permeable membranes for separating hydrogen from mixed gases, particularly product streams during coal gasification and/or methane reforming. Novel cermet (ceramic-metal composite) membranes have been developed. Hydrogen separation with these membranes is non-galvanic (does not use electrodes or external power supply to drive the separation and hydrogen selectivity is nearly 100 % because the membrane contain no interconnect porosity). The membrane development at ANL initially concentrated on a mixed proton/electron conductor based on BaCe0.8Y0.2O3-d (BCY), but it turn to be insufficient to allow high non-galvanic hydrogen flux. To increase the electronic conductivity and thereby to increase the hydrogen flux the development focused on various cermet membranes with 40-50 vol. % of metal or alloy dispersed in the ceramic matrix. Balachandran et al.15,16 described the development performed at ANL. The powder mixture for fabricating cermet membranes was prepared by mechanical mixi ng Pd (50 vol. %) with YSZ, after that the powder mixture was pressed into discs. Polished cermet membranes were affixed to one end of alumina tube using a gold casket for a seal (as can be seen in Figure 9). In order to measure the hydrogen permeation rate, the alumina tube was inserted into a furnace with a sealed membrane and the associated gas flow tubes.Hydrogen permeation rate for Pd/YSZ membranes has been measured as a function of temperature (500-900 C), partial pressure of hydrogen in the feed stream (0.04-1.0 atm.) and membrane thickness ( 22-210 mm) as well as versus time during exposure to feed gases containing H2, CO, CO2, CH4 and H2S. The highest hydrogen flux was 20.0 cm3 (STP)/min cm2 for 22- mm thick membrane at 900 C using 100 % hydrogen as the feed gas. These results suggested that membranes with thickness In the last decade Matrimid 5218 (Polyimide of 3,3,4,4-benzophenone tetracarboxylic dianhydride and diamino-phenylindane) has attracted a lot of attention as a material for gas separation membranes due to the combination of relatively high gas permeability coefficients and separation factors combined with excellent mechanical properties, solubility in non-hazard organic solvents and commercial availability. Shishatskiy et al.18 have developed asymmetric flat sheet membranes for hydrogen separation from its mixtures with other gases. The composition and conditions of membrane preparation were optimized for pilot scale membrane production. The resulting membrane had a high hydrogen flux (1 m3 (STP)/m2h*bar) and selectivity of H2/CH4 at least 100, close to the selectivity of Matrimid 5218, material used for asymmetric structure formation. The hydrogen flux through the membranes increased with the decrease of polymer concentration and increase of non-solvent concentration. In addition, the influence of N2 blowing over the membrane surface (0, 2, 3, 4 Nm3 h-1 flow rate) was studied and it was proved that the selectivity of the membrane decrea sed with increase of the gas flow. The SEM image of the membrane supported by Matrimid 5218 is shown in Figure 10.The stability against hydrocarbons was tested by entering of the membrane into the mixture of n-pentane/n-hexane/toluene in 111 ratio. Stability tests showed that the developed membrane was stable against mixtures of liquid hydrocarbons and could withstand continuous heating up to 200 C for 24 and 120 hours and did not lose gas separation properties after exposure to a mixture of liquid hydrocarbons. The polyester non-woven fabric used as a support for the asymmetric membrane gave to the membrane excellent mechanical properties and allowed to use the membrane in gas separation modules.Interesting report on development of compact hydrogen separation module called MOC (Membrane On Catalyst) with structured Ni-based catalyst for use in the membrane reactor was presented by Kurokawa et al19. In the MOC concept a porous support itself had a function of reforming catalyst in addition to the role of membrane support. The integrated structure of support and catalyst made the membrane reformer more compact because the separate catalysts placed most the membrane modules in the conventional membrane reformers could be eliminated. In that idea first a porous catalytic structure 8YSZ (mixture of NiO and 8 mol. % Y2O3-ZrO2 at the weight ratio 6040) was prepared as the support structure of the hydrogen membrane. The mixture was pressed into a tube closed at one end and sintered then in air. Slurry of 8YSZ was coated on the external surface of the porous support and heat-treated for alloying. Obtained module of size 10 mm outside and 8 mm inside diameter, 100 300 mm length and the membrane thickness was 7 20 mm were heated in flowing hydrogen at 600 C for 3 hours to reduce NiO in the support structure into Ni before use (the porosity of the support after reduction was 43 %). A stainless steel cap and pipe were bonded to the module to introduce H2 into the insi de of the tubular module. Figure 11 presents the conceptual structure practice of the MOC module as compared with the structure of the conventional membrane reformer.The sample module in the reaction chamber was placed in the furnace and heated at 600 C, pre-heated hydrogen (or humidified methane) was supplied inside MOC at the pressure of 0.1 MPa and the permeated hydrogen was collected from the outside chamber just about the module at ambient pressure. The 100 300 mm long modules with 10 mm membrane showed hydrogen flux of 30 cm3 per turn per cm2 which was two times higher than the permeability of the conventional modules with palladium based alloy films. Membrane On Catalyst modules have a great potential to be applied to membrane reformer systems. In this concept a porous support itself has a function of reforming catalyst in addition to the role of membrane support. It seems that Membrane On Catalyst modules have a great potential to be applied to membrane reformer systems. Amorphous alloy membranes composed primarily of Ni and early modulation metals (ETM) are an inexpensive alternative to Pd-based alloy membranes, and these materials are therefore of particular interest for the large-scale production of hydrogen from carbon-based fuels. Catalytic membrane reactors can produce hydrogen directly from coal-derived synthesis gas at 400C, by combining a commercial water-gas shift (WGS) catalyst with a hydrogen-selective membrane. Three main classes of membrane are capable of operating at the high temperatures demanded by existing WGS catalysts ceramic membranes producing pure hydrogen via ion-transfer utensil at 600 C, alloy membranes which produce pure hydrogen via a solution-diffusion weapon between 300 500 C and microporous membranes, typically silica or carbon, whose purity depends on the pore size of the membrane and which operate over a wide temperature range dependent on the membrane material. In order to explore the suitability of Ni-based am orphous alloys for this application, the thermal stability and hydrogen permeation characteristics of Ni-ETM amorphous alloy membranes has been examined by Dolan et al20. Fundamental limitation of these materials is that hydrogen permeability is inversely proportional to the thermal stability of the alloy. Alloy design is therefore a compromise between hydrogen production rate and durability. Amorphous Ni60Nb(40-x)Zr(x) membranes have been tested at 400C in pure hydrogen, and in simulated coal-derived gas streams with high steam, CO and CO2 levels, without severe degradation or corrosion-induced failure. The authors have concluded that Ni-Nb-Zr amorphous alloys are therefore prospective materials for use in a catalytic membrane reactor for coal-derived syngas. Much attention has been given to inorganic materials such as zeolite, silica, zirconia and titania for development of gas- and liquid- separation membranes because they can be utilized under harsh conditions where organic poly mer membranes cannot be applied. Silica membranes have been studied extensively for the preparation of various kinds of separation membranes hydrogen, CO2 and C3 isomers.Kanezeashi21 have proposed silica networks using an organo-inorganic hybrid alkoxide structure containing the organic groups between two silicon atoms, such as bis(triethoxysilyl)ethane (BTESE) for development of highly permeable hydrogen separation membranes with hydrothermal stability. The concept for improvement of hydrogen permeability of silica membrane was to design a loose-organic-inorganic hybrid silica network using mentioned BTESE (to shift the silica networks to a larger pore size for an increase in H2 permeability). A hybrid silica layer was prepared by coating a silica-zirconia intermediate layer with a BTESE polymer sol followed by drying and calcination at 300C in nitrogen. A thin, continuous separation layer of hybrid silica for selective H2 permeation was observed on top of the SiO2-ZrO2 intermediat e layer as presented in Figure 12. Hybrid silica membranes showed a very high H2 permeance, 1 order of magnitude higher ( 10-5 mol m-2 s-1 Pa-1) than previously reported silica membranes using TEOS (Tetraethoxysilane). The hydrothermal stability of the hybrid silica membranes due to the presence of Si-C-C-Si bonds in the silica networks was also confirmed.Nitodas et al.22 for the development of composite silica membranes have used the method of chemical vapour deposition (CVD) in the counter current configuration from TEOS and ozone mixtures. The experiments were conducted in a swimming hot-wall CVD quartz reactor (Figure 13) under controlled temperature conditions (523 543 K) and at various reaction times (0 -15 hours) and differential pressures across the substrate sides using two types of substrates a porous Vycor tube and alumina (g-Al2O3) nanofiltration (NF) tube. The permeance of hydrogen and other gases (He, N2, Ar, CO2) were measured in a home-made apparatus (able to oper ate under high vacuum conditions 10-3 Torr, feed pressure up to 70 bar) and the separation capability of the composite membranes was determined by calculating the selectivity of hydrogen over He, N2, Ar, CO2. The in-situ monitoring of gas permeance during the CVD development of nanoporous membranes created a tool to detect pore size alterations in the micro to nanometer scale of thickness. The highest permeance values in both modified and unqualified membranes are observed for H2 and the lowest for CO2. This indicated that the developed membranes were ideal candidates for H2/CO2 separations, like for example in reforming units of natural gas and biogas (H2/CO2/CO/CH4). lunation et al.23 have studied the separation characteristics and dynamics of hydrogen mixture produced from natural gas reformer on tubular type methyltriethoxysilane (MTES) silica / ?-alumina composite membranes. The permeation and separation of CO pure gas, H2/CO (50/50 vol. %) binary mixture and H2/CH4/CO/CO2 (69 /3/2/26 vol. %) quaternary mixture was investigated. The authors developed a membrane process suitable for separating H2 from CO and other reformate gases (CO2 or CH4) that showed a molecular sieving effect. Since the permeance of pure CO on the MTES membrane was very low (CO 4.79 6.46 x 10-11 mol m-2 s-1 Pa-1), comparatively high hydrogen selectivity could be obtained from the H2/CO mixture (separation factor 93 110). This meant that CO (which shall be eliminated before entering fuel cell) can be dislocated from hydrogen mixtures using MTES membranes. The permeance of the hydrogen quaternary mixture on MTES membrane was 2.07 3.37 x 10-9 mol m-2 s-1 Pa-1 and the separation factor of H2 / (CO + CH4 + CO2) was 2.61 10.33 at 323 473 K (Figure 14). The permeation and selectivity of hydrogen were increased with temperature because of activation of H2 molecules and unfavourable conditions for CO2 adsorption. Compared to other impurities, CO was most successfully removed from the H2 mixture.The MTES membranes showed great potential for hydrogen separation from reforming gas with high selectivity and high permeance and therefore they have good potential for fuel cell systems and for use in hydrogen stations. According to the authors, the silica membranes are expected to be used for separating hydrogen in reforming environment at high temperatures.Silica membranes prepared by the CVD or sol-gel methods on mesoporous support are effective for selective hydrogen permeation, however it is cognise that hydrogen-selective silica materials are not thermally stable at high temperatures. Most researchers reported a loss of permeability of silica membranes flat 50 % or greater in the first 12 hours on exposure to moisture at high temperature. Much effort has been spent on the improvement of the stability of silica membranes. Gu et al.24 have investigated a hydrothermally stable and hydrogen-selective membrane composed of silica and alumina prepared on a macroporous alu mina support by CVD in an inert atmosphere at high temperature. Before the deposition of the silica-alumina composite multiple graded layers of alumina were coated on the alumina support with three sols of diminish particle sizes. The resulting supported composite silica-alumina membrane had high permeability for hydrogen (in the order of 10-7 mol m-2 s-1 Pa-1) at 873 K. Significantly the composite membrane exhibited much higher stability to water vapour at the high temperature of 873 K in comparison to pure silica membranes. The introduction of alumina into silica made the silica structure more stable and slowed down the silica disintegration process. As mentioned, silica membranes produced by sol-gel technique or by CVD applied for gas separation, especially for H2 production are quite stable in dry gases and exhibit high separation ratio, but lose the permeability when used in the steamed gases because of sintering or tightening. Thi