Pure hydrogen production from octane, ethanol, methanol, and methane reforming using a palladium membrane reactor

Conference · Wed Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1997

OSTI ID:349040

Birdsell, S A; Willms, R S; Dye, R C ^[1]

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1. Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)

A palladium membrane reactor (PMR) has been used to convert hydrocarbons into pure hydrogen. This process has promise for generating hydrogen fur use in PEM fuel cells and other applications. Ethanol, methanol and gasoline are being considered for fuel cell cars since they are liquids and therefore have high energy densities. Methane is being considered for terrestrial fuel cell applications. Each fuel was tested in the PMR at a range of inlet and operating conditions. Conversions to pure hydrogen approaching 100% were obtained for all of the fuels. The PMR was loaded with either Cu/Zn-O, Ni/{gamma}-Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}, Ni/{alpha}-Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}, or Pt/{alpha}-Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} catalyst, depending on the hydrocarbon being processed and the temperature of the experiment. The quantity of water injected into the reactor ranged from 50--100% of the stoichiometric requirement for complete conversion of the hydrocarbons. At 100% of the stoichiometric requirement, the retentate (outlet of reaction side) was mostly CO{sub 2}. At less than the stoichiometric requirement, significant concentrations of CO, H{sub 2}O, and CH{sub 4} were observed. If the water injection was too low then carbon formation occurred in the reactor. The effect of injection rate on hydrogen recovery was measured. It was observed that higher percentages of hydrogen were recovered as the injection rate was decreased. Octane reforming worked well at 450 C, but performance was poor at 400 C. Ethanol reforming worked well at 500 and 550 C. For methanol reforming, the performance was best at 300 C and decreased as the temperature was increased to 350 C. The decrease in hydrogen production in the permeate was caused by an increase in methane production in the retentate.

• OSTI ID: 349040
• Report Number(s): CONF-970701--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

08 HYDROGEN
30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION
CATALYSTS
ETHANOL
HYDROGEN GENERATORS
HYDROGEN PRODUCTION
METHANE
METHANOL
OCTANE
PERFORMANCE
SOLID ELECTROLYTE FUEL CELLS
STEAM REFORMER PROCESSES