Hydrogen Production via a Commercially Ready Inorganic membrane Reactor

One of the technical barriers for ceramic membranes is its scale up potential. The conventional ceramic membranes/modules originally developed for liquid phase applications are costly and not suitable for high temperature applications. One of the objectives under this project is the development of a ceramic membrane/module, which is economical and suitable for high temperature applications proposed under this project (200-300 C). During this period, we initiated the fabrication of a prototype ceramic membrane module which can be (1) qualified for the proposed application temperature, and (2) cost acceptable for large scale applications. A prototype ceramic membrane bundle (3-inch diameter and 35-inch L) has been prepared, which passes the temperature stability requirement. It also meets the low end of the burst pressure requirement, i.e., 500-750 psi. In the next period, we will continue the improvement of this prototype module to upgrade its burst pressure to 1000 to 1500 psi range. In addition, bench-top experimental study has been conducted in this period to verify satisfactorily the simulated results for the process scheme developed in the last report, which took into the consideration of streamlining the pre- and post-treatment. The sensitivity analysis indicates that membrane surface area requirement is a key operating parameter based upon the criteria of the CO conversion, hydrogen recovery and CO impurity level. A preliminary optimization study has been performed in this period based upon the key operating parameters determined above. Our result shows that at 40 bar feed pressure a nearly complete CO conversion and >95% hydrogen recovery can be achieved with the CO impurity level at {approx}3500 ppm. If the hydrogen recovery ratio is lowered, the CO impurity level can be reduced further. More comprehensive optimization study will be performed in the 2nd half of Yr III to focus on the reduction of the CO impurity level with a reasonable hydrogen recovery ratio