OXYGEN AND HYDROGEN TRANSPORT MEMBRANE REACTOR APPLICATIONS

摘要

Oxygen transport membrane technology, under development at Eltron Research Inc., facilitates the exclusive mediation of oxygen from the atmosphere to a desired reaction site. As a consequence, these membranes can be incorporated into Catalytic Membrane Reactors (CMRs) where exothermic hydrocarbon partial oxidation chemistries can proceed while at the same time eliminating the need for a separate oxygen plant - a significant reduction in overall production costs compared to currently available technology. An additional feature is that in such chemical processing NO_x emissions are eliminated since N_2 in the air is separated from O_2 via the membrane. In particular, the above technology can be used for the spontaneous reforming of, respectively, natural gas, biomass, and coal into synthesis gas, an equilibrium mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Application of water-gas shift chemistry leads to an increase in hydrogen fraction. We are also developing low cost hydrogen transport membranes compatible with the efficient separation of hydrogen from hydrogen containing feedstreams discussed above. Hydrogen separation rates have been found approximately an order of magnitude higher than for palladium membranes. Hence by employing these two membrane technologies in concert, a low energy pathway for the decarbonization of gas fed feedstocks to supply a pure hydrogen feedstream in support of the future hydrogen economy may exist. The by-product concentrated carbon dioxide feedstream would provide the opportunity for subsequent convenient sequestration.