Chemical and transport behaviors in a microfluidic reformer with catalytic-support membrane for efficient hydrogen production and purification

Abstract

Membrane Autothermal reformingPorous media a b s t r a c t Microchannel reformer integrated with H 2 selective membrane offers an efficient, compact and portable way to produce hydrogen. The performance of a membrane-based microfluidic reformer is restricted by species diffusion limitation within the porous support of the membrane. Recent development in novel catalytic-supported membranes has the potential to enhance H 2 production by decimating the diffusion limitation.Loading a Pd-Ag layer on to a Ni-catalytic porous support, the membrane achieves both H 2 separation and production functions. In this study, a two-dimensional CFD model combined with chemical kinetics has been developed to simulate a microchannel autothermal reformer fed by methane. The species conversion and transport behaviors have been studied. The results show that the permeation process enhances the mass transport within the catalytic layer, and as a result, the reactions are intensified. Most notably, the effectiveness factor of the water-gas shift reaction as high as 6 is obtained.In addition, the effects of gaseous hourly space velocity (GHSV) on methane conversion and H 2 flux through the membrane are also discussed, and an optimal value of GHSV is suggested.

Biogas upgrading for on-board hydrogen production: Reforming process CFD modelling

“…Moreover, an elevated reactor temperature (caused by exothermic oxidation reactions) enhances the reforming reaction rate and consequently converts more methane into synthetic gas. By decreasing GHSV to 16,500 h -1 the reforming efficiency and methane conversion is slightly increased due to the promoted DRR and SRR, as discussed earlier in Section 3.3 [23,24].…”

Review of membranes in microfluidics

“…Xuan et al researched the chemical and transport behaviors in a microfluidic reformer with catalytic-support membrane for efficient hydrogen production and purification. 102 Hägg researched membrane purification of Cl 2 gas by using permeabilities as a function of temperature for Cl 2 , O 2 , N 2 , H 2 in two types of PDMS membranes. 103 Toda et al presented a micro-gas analysis system comprising a microchannel scrubber and a micro-fluorescence detector for measurement of hydrogen sulfide.…”

“…Xuan et al researched the chemical and transport behaviors in a microfluidic reformer with catalytic‐support membrane for efficient hydrogen production and purification . Hägg researched membrane purification of Cl 2 gas by using permeabilities as a function of temperature for Cl 2 , O 2 , N 2 , H 2 in two types of PDMS membranes .…”

Comparison between parallel and checked arrangements of micro reformer for H2 production from methane

“…Additionally, the micro reformer can reduce multi-stages requirement in hydrogen production system (evaporator, heat exchanger, separator, etc.) by combining several stages in a single unit [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13].…”