H2 production by low pressure methanol steam reforming in a dense Pd-Ag membrane reactor in co-current flow configuration: Experimental and modeling analysis

The aim of this work is to generate a pure or COx-free hydrogen stream by using a dense Pd-based packed bed membrane reactor (PBMR) during methanol steam reforming (MSR) reaction and developing a valid model that can provide a tool for deeper analyses of the reaction parameters in the PBMR. Therefore, in this study, a dense Pd-Ag membrane reactor (MR) is used to carry out MSR at different gas hourly space velocity (GHSV), feed molar ratio and sweep gas factor (SF) and for low reaction pressures (1.5-2.5 bar). For a better analysis, a traditional packed bed reactor (PBR) is operated at the same PBMR conditions. In the PBMR setup, a dense Pd-Ag membrane with a thickness of 50 μm is used and also a commercial Cu/ZnO/Al2O3catalyst is packed in both kinds of reactors. Methanol conversion equal to 100% is experimentally achieved in the PBMR at 280 C, H2O/CH3OH = 3/1 and 2.5 bar, while at the same conditions the PBR reaches 91% methanol conversion. Moreover, 46% COx-free hydrogen on total hydrogen produced is collected by using sweep gas in the PBMR permeate side. Furthermore, a 1-dimensional and isothermal model is developed for theoretically analyzing MSR performance in both PBMR and PBR, validated by the combined experimental campaign. © 2013, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights.