H2 production with low carbon content via MSR in packed bed membrane reactors for high-temperature polymeric electrolyte membrane fuel cell. (15th February 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ribeirinha, P.; Abdollahzadeh, M.; Boaventura, M.; Mendes, A.
• Is Part Of: Applied energy. Volume 188(2017)
• Page Start: 409
• Page End: 419
• Publication Date: 2017-02-15
• Subjects: Packed bed membrane reactor -- Methanol steam reforming -- CFD -- Hydrogen purification -- Palladium membrane -- Ionic liquid membrane; Power (Mechanics) -- Periodicals; Energy conservation -- Periodicals; Energy conversion -- Periodicals; 621.042
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.12.015
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0306-2619

Abstract

Highlights: H2 removal diminishes the backward reaction and increases the residence time. Selective CO2 removal has low effect on the CH3 OH conversion compared to H2 removal. IL membranes for MSR intents require minimum permeance of ⩾1 × 10 −6 mol s −1 m −2 Pa −1 . IL-based PBMRs are easier to operate and have low energy consumption. Abstract: This work compares the hydrogen purity and recovery produced by a methanol steam reforming (MSR) packed bed membrane reactor (PBMR) equipped with a membrane selective to hydrogen (Pd-Ag) and with a membrane selective to carbon dioxide (porous membrane filled with ionic liquids-ILs). A 3-dimensional non-isothermal PBMR model was developed in Fluent (Ansys™) for simulating a PBMR equipped with these two types of membranes and simulating a conventional packed bed reactor (PBR). For the development PBMR models a MSR mechanistic kinetic model was fitted to experimental reaction rates of a commercial catalyst (BASF RP60). The results indicated that selective hydrogen removal from the reaction medium originates a significant increase in the methanol conversion, while the carbon dioxide removal has a smaller effect. CO2 -PBMR showed to be more efficient in terms of energy consumption than H2 -PMBR. The simulation results showed also that ILs membranes must have a minimum permeance of ⩾1 x 10 −6 mol s −1 m −2 Pa −1 and CO2 /H2 selectivity of ⩾200 at 473 K to be attractive for this type of applications. The advantages and limitations of each reactor configuration are discussed based on experimental and simulated data.