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Title: SEPARATION OF HYDROGEN AND CARBON DIOXIDE USING A NOVEL MEMBRANE REACTOR IN ADVANCED FOSSIL ENERGY CONVERSION PROCESS

Abstract

Inorganic membrane reactors offer the possibility of combining reaction and separation in a single operation at high temperatures to overcome the equilibrium limitations experienced in conventional reactor configurations. Such attractive features can be advantageously utilized in a number of potential commercial opportunities, which include dehydrogenation, hydrogenation, oxidative dehydrogenation, oxidation and catalytic decomposition reactions. However, to be cost effective, significant technological advances and improvements will be required to solve several key issues which include: (a) permselective thin solid film, (b) thermal, chemical and mechanical stability of the film at high temperatures, and (c) reactor engineering and module development in relation to the development of effective seals at high temperature and high pressure. In this project, we are working on the development and application of palladium and palladium-silver alloy thin-film composite membranes in membrane reactor-separator configuration for simultaneous production and separation of hydrogen and carbon dioxide at high temperature. From our research on Pd-composite membrane, we have demonstrated that the new membrane has significantly higher hydrogen flux with very high perm-selectivity than any of the membranes commercially available. The steam reforming of methane by equilibrium shift in Pd-composite membrane reactor is being studied to demonstrate the potential application of this new development.more » A two-dimensional, pseudo-homogeneous membrane-reactor model was developed to investigate the steam-methane reforming (SMR) reactions in a Pd-based membrane reactor. Radial diffusion was taken into consideration to account for the concentration gradient in the radial direction due to hydrogen permeation through the membrane. With appropriate reaction rate expressions, a set of partial differential equations was derived using the continuity equation for the reaction system. The equations were solved by finite difference method. The solution of the model equations is complicated by the coupled reactions. At the inlet, if there is no hydrogen, rate expressions become singular. To overcome this problem, the first element of the reactor was treated as a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR). Several alternative numerical schemes were implemented in the solution algorithm to get a converged, stable solution. The model was also capable of handling steam-methane reforming reactions under non-membrane condition and equilibrium reaction conversions. Some of the numerical results were presented in the previous report. To test the membrane reactor model, we fabricated Pd-stainless steel membranes in tubular configuration using electroless plating method coupled with osmotic pressure. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive Xray (EDX) were used to characterize the fabricated Pd-film composite membranes. Gas-permeation tests were performed to measure the permeability of hydrogen, nitrogen and helium using pure gas. Some of these results are discussed in this progress report.« less

Authors:
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
North Carolina A& T State University (US)
Sponsoring Org.:
(US)
OSTI Identifier:
822761
DOE Contract Number:  
FG26-99FT40620
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: 17 Feb 2004
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
08 HYDROGEN; ALGORITHMS; ALLOYS; CARBON DIOXIDE; CONTINUITY EQUATIONS; ENERGY CONVERSION; FINITE DIFFERENCE METHOD; HYDROGEN; MEMBRANES; NITROGEN; OXIDATION; PALLADIUM; PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS; PROGRESS REPORT; REACTION KINETICS; SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY

Citation Formats

Ilias, Shamsuddin. SEPARATION OF HYDROGEN AND CARBON DIOXIDE USING A NOVEL MEMBRANE REACTOR IN ADVANCED FOSSIL ENERGY CONVERSION PROCESS. United States: N. p., 2004. Web. doi:10.2172/822761.
Ilias, Shamsuddin. SEPARATION OF HYDROGEN AND CARBON DIOXIDE USING A NOVEL MEMBRANE REACTOR IN ADVANCED FOSSIL ENERGY CONVERSION PROCESS. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/822761
Ilias, Shamsuddin. 2004. "SEPARATION OF HYDROGEN AND CARBON DIOXIDE USING A NOVEL MEMBRANE REACTOR IN ADVANCED FOSSIL ENERGY CONVERSION PROCESS". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/822761. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/822761.
@article{osti_822761,
title = {SEPARATION OF HYDROGEN AND CARBON DIOXIDE USING A NOVEL MEMBRANE REACTOR IN ADVANCED FOSSIL ENERGY CONVERSION PROCESS},
author = {Ilias, Shamsuddin},
abstractNote = {Inorganic membrane reactors offer the possibility of combining reaction and separation in a single operation at high temperatures to overcome the equilibrium limitations experienced in conventional reactor configurations. Such attractive features can be advantageously utilized in a number of potential commercial opportunities, which include dehydrogenation, hydrogenation, oxidative dehydrogenation, oxidation and catalytic decomposition reactions. However, to be cost effective, significant technological advances and improvements will be required to solve several key issues which include: (a) permselective thin solid film, (b) thermal, chemical and mechanical stability of the film at high temperatures, and (c) reactor engineering and module development in relation to the development of effective seals at high temperature and high pressure. In this project, we are working on the development and application of palladium and palladium-silver alloy thin-film composite membranes in membrane reactor-separator configuration for simultaneous production and separation of hydrogen and carbon dioxide at high temperature. From our research on Pd-composite membrane, we have demonstrated that the new membrane has significantly higher hydrogen flux with very high perm-selectivity than any of the membranes commercially available. The steam reforming of methane by equilibrium shift in Pd-composite membrane reactor is being studied to demonstrate the potential application of this new development. A two-dimensional, pseudo-homogeneous membrane-reactor model was developed to investigate the steam-methane reforming (SMR) reactions in a Pd-based membrane reactor. Radial diffusion was taken into consideration to account for the concentration gradient in the radial direction due to hydrogen permeation through the membrane. With appropriate reaction rate expressions, a set of partial differential equations was derived using the continuity equation for the reaction system. The equations were solved by finite difference method. The solution of the model equations is complicated by the coupled reactions. At the inlet, if there is no hydrogen, rate expressions become singular. To overcome this problem, the first element of the reactor was treated as a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR). Several alternative numerical schemes were implemented in the solution algorithm to get a converged, stable solution. The model was also capable of handling steam-methane reforming reactions under non-membrane condition and equilibrium reaction conversions. Some of the numerical results were presented in the previous report. To test the membrane reactor model, we fabricated Pd-stainless steel membranes in tubular configuration using electroless plating method coupled with osmotic pressure. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersive Xray (EDX) were used to characterize the fabricated Pd-film composite membranes. Gas-permeation tests were performed to measure the permeability of hydrogen, nitrogen and helium using pure gas. Some of these results are discussed in this progress report.},
doi = {10.2172/822761},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/822761}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Feb 17 00:00:00 EST 2004},
month = {Tue Feb 17 00:00:00 EST 2004}
}