Oxygen permeation and creep behavior of Ca1−xSrxTi0.6Fe0.15Mn0.25O3−δ (x=0, 0.5) membrane materials

• Chemically stable, cheap and non-toxic CaTiO3 based O2 membranes investigated.
• Important material challenges discussed for relevant state-of-the-art systems.
• Mechanical stability verified by creep measurements.
• O2 flux behavior investigated as function T and p(O2) up to 3.36 bar.

Oxygen permeation measurements were performed on dense symmetric samples of Ca0.5Sr0.5Ti0.6Fe0.15Mn0.25O3−δ and compared to CaTi0.6Fe0.15Mn0.25O3−δ in order to assess the influence of the perovskite lattice volume on oxygen permeation. Oxygen flux measurements were performed in the temperature range 700–1000 °C and as function of feed side pO2pO2 from 10−2 to 1 bar, and at high pressures up to 4 bar with a pO2pO2 of 3.36 bar. The O2 permeability of the Sr-doped sample was significantly lower than that of the Sr-free sample, amounting to 3.9×10−3 mL min−1 cm−1 at 900 °C for a feed side pO2pO2 of 0.21 bar. The O2 permeability of CaTi0.6Fe0.15Mn0.25O3−δ shows little variation with increased feed side pressures and reaches 1.5×10−2 mL min−1 cm−1 at 900 °C for a feed side pO2pO2 of 3.36 bar. This is approximately 1.5 times higher than the O2 permeability with a feed side pO2pO2 of 0.21 bar. Furthermore, in order to assess the applicability of CaTi0.6Fe0.15Mn0.25O3−δ as an oxygen membrane material, creep tests were performed under compressive loads of 30 and 63 MPa, respectively, in air in the temperature range 700–1000 °C; the results indicate a high creep resistance for this class of materials. The measured O2 permeabilities and creep rates are compared with other state-of-the-art membrane materials and their performance for relevant applications is discussed in terms of chemical and mechanical stability.