Autothermal Reforming of Methane with Integrated CO2 Capture in a Novel Fluidized Bed Membrane Reactor. Part 2 Comparison of Reactor Configurations

The reactor performance of two novel fluidized bed membrane reactor configurations for hydrogen production with integrated CO2 capture by autothermal reforming of methane (experimentally investigated in Part 1) have been compared using a phenomenological reactor model over a wide range of operating conditions (temperature, pressure, H2O/CH4 ratio and membrane area). It was found that the methane combustion configuration (where part of the CH4 is combusted in situ with pure O2) largely outperforms the hydrogen combustion concept (oxidative sweeping combusting part of the permeated H2) at low H2O/CH4 ratios (<2) due to in situ steam production, but gives a slightly lower hydrogen production rate at higher H2O/CH4 ratios due to dilution with combustion products. The CO selectivity was always much lower with the methane combustion configuration. Whether the methane combustion or hydrogen combustion configuration is preferred depends strongly on the economics associated with the H2O/CH4 ratio

Upgrading biogas with novel composite carbon molecular sieve (CCMS) membranes: Experimental and techno-economic assessment

The use of biogas as feedstock for hydrogen production was widely proposed in the literature in the last years as a strategy to reduce anthropogenic carbon emissions. However, its lower heating value compared to natural gas hampers the revamping of existing reforming plants. The use of composite carbon molecular sieve membranes for biogas upgrading (CO2 removal from biogas) was investigated experimentally in this work. In particular, ideal perm-selectivities and permeabilities above the Robeson plot for CO2/CH4 mixtures have been obtained. These membranes show better performances compared to polymeric membranes, which are nowadays commercialized for CO2 separation in natural gas streams. Compared to polymeric membranes, carbon membranes do not show deactivation by plasticization when exposed to CO2, and thus can find industrial application. This work was extended with a techno-economic analysis where carbon membranes are installed in a steam methane reforming plant. Results have been first validated with data from literature and show that the use of biogas increases the costs of hydrogen production to a value of 0.25 €/Nm3 compared to the benchmark technology (0.21 €/Nm3). On the other hand, the use of biogas leads to a decrease in carbon emissions up to 95%, thus the use of biogas for hydrogen production is foreseen as a very interesting alternative to conventional technologies in view of the reduction in the carbon footprint in the novel technologies that are to be installed in the near future

Transient 1-d model simulation of a packed-beds chemical-looping combustion reactor of syngas with ilmenite

A packed-bed chemical-looping combustion (CLC) reactor is developed using syngas as fuel with ilmenite as an oxygen carrier. The aim of the current study is to analyze, design and optimize the performance of this novel reactor concept using numerical simulations. Transient 1-D reactor models of the fuel and air reactors have been developed to investigate the dynamic temperature and concentration profiles along the length of the reactor. Simulation studies show that a very high temperature air stream can be produced efficiently with packed-bed CLC using syngas combustion with ilmenite with intrinsic capture of CO2. On the other hand, due to the relatively low reduction rates, much more attention has to be paid to fuel slip during the reduction cycle

High temperature endoscopic-laser PIV/DIA technique for the study of hydrodynamics of gas-solid fluidized beds

Sheets presentatio

Effect of aluminium acetyl acetonate on the hydrogen and nitrogen permeation of carbon molecular sieves membranes

With a growing interest in hydrogen as energy carrier, the efficient purification of hydrogen from gaseous mixtures is very important. This paper addresses the separation of hydrogen using Carbon Molecular Sieves Membranes (CMSM), which show an attractive combination of high permeability, selectivity and stability. Supported CMSM containing various amounts of aluminium have been prepared from novolac and aluminium acetyl acetonate (Al(acac)3) as carbon and alumina precursors. The thickness of the CMSM layers depend on the content of Al(acac)3 in the dipping solution, which also has influence in the pore size and pore size distribution of the membranes. The permeation properties of the membranes against the Al content in the membrane follows a volcano shape, where the membrane containing 4 wt (%) of Al(acac)3 has the best properties and was stable during 720 h for hydrogen at 150 °C and 6 bar pressure difference. All the CMSM have permeation properties well above the Robeson Upper limit.The research has been carried out within the TTW Perspectief Programme “Microsync” project number P16-10

New hydrophilic carbon molecular sieve membranes for bioethanol dehydration via pervaporation

Tubular supported carbon molecular sieve membranes (CMSMs) with high hydrophilicity and perm-selectivities for water suitable for ethanol dehydration were developed from a Novolac oligomer phenolic resin as precursor. Alpha alumina supported CMSMs resulted in 1.69 times higher surface roughness than zirconia supports. The higher surface roughness resulted in 48% higher selective layer thickness. According to pervaporation results, water permeance decreased by the increase in selective layer thickness and mole based selectivity of water- ethanol was enhanced. The oligomer with 3982 g/mol molecular weight enabled membrane to reach high selectivity with one-layer coating. Performance of the membranes are compared with literature data in terms of mole-based selectivity vs. water permeance. CMSMs could be a potential substitution for traditional ethanol dehydration methods with offering higher performance and as a result reducing the final price of bioethanol to be used as a sustainable energy source.The research has been carried out within the TTW Perspectief Pro-gramme “Microsync” project number P16-1