SiC-BASED HYDROGEN SELECTIVE MEMBRANES FOR WATER-GAS-SHIFT REACTION

A hydrogen selective membrane as a membrane reactor (MR) can significantly improve the power generation efficiency with a reduced capital and operating cost for the waster-gas-shift reaction. Existing hydrogen selective ceramic membranes are not suitable for the proposed MR due to their poor hydrothermal stability. In this project we have focused on the development of innovative silicon carbide (SiC) based hydrogen selective membranes, which can potentially overcome this technical barrier. During Year I, we have successfully fabricated SiC macro porous membranes via extrusion of commercially available SiC powder, which were then deposited with thin, micro-porous (6 to 40{angstrom} in pore size) films via sol-gel technique as intermediate layers. Finally, an SiC hydrogen selective thin film was deposited on this substrate via our CVD/I technique. The composite membrane thus prepared demonstrated excellent hydrogen selectivity at high temperature ({approx}600 C). More importantly, this membrane also exhibited a much improved hydrothermal stability at 600 C with 50% steam (atmospheric pressure) for nearly 100 hours. In parallel, we have explored an alternative approach to develop a H{sub 2} selective SiC membrane via pyrolysis of selected pre-ceramic polymers. Building upon the positive progress made in the Year I preliminary study, we will conduct an optimization study in Year II to develop an optimized H{sub 2} selective SiC membrane with sufficient hydrothermal stability suitable for the WGS environment