The Proton Conducting Membrane in the Project “Additive Manufacturing for Zero-Emission Innovative Green Chemistry” - AMAZING

The aim of the AMAZING project is to demonstrate the potential of a catalytic membrane reactor process to be developed for the dehydrogenation of small olefins while reducing the emission of climate-damaging gases and maintaining its economic attractiveness compared to benchmarks of conventional processes. Therefore, the technical objectives of the project are the production and technical proof of function of a membrane reactor system for the non-oxidative dehydrogenation of alkanes to unsaturated hydrocarbons. A membrane reactor offers the possibility of carrying out a separation process via a membrane and a chemical reaction in direct spatial proximity. This creates the potential for improved by-product utilisation - in this case hydrogen. The membrane reactor can be heated with the help of renewable energy sources. Compared to conventional fossil-fuel heated reactor systems (ethane cracker or catalytic propane dehydrogenation), such a reactor technology has the potential to almost completely clean up the CO2 footprint and to deliver "green" hydrogen as a by-product, which can be used as a material within existing or yet to be created composite structures. In order to realise a functioning proton conducting membrane reactor, robust membrane systems are required, which must be made of ceramic materials due to the desired environmental conditions. Tape casting is selected as the manufacturing process and 3D printing as an innovative development. Subsequently, a suitable technology for the insertion of a catalyst as well as the sealing of the membrane within the newly developed membrane reactor test stand must be realised.This work shows the objectives of the AMAZING project. The membranes are manufactured by tape-casting and different additive manufacturing routes. As starting material lanthanum tungstate with Mo-substitution is selected. The selected additive manufacturing routes for the supports are 3D-screen printing and material extrusion. The membranes are characterized and tested in application realted environments.The AMAZING project (funding code 03EN2052A, 03EN2052B and 03EN2052C) is funded by the German Ministry of Economics and Enery and is being carried out by the partners hte, BASF, Forschungszentrum Jülich and WZR ceramic solutions. The German project works closely with the cooperation partners of the project of the same name, which is funded in the Netherlands from „ Stichting TKI-ISPT“ Dutch partners are Dow Chemicals, SHELL, University of Eindhoven, University of Twente and Institute for Sustainable Process Technology ISPT