The Impact of Operating Conditions on the Performance of a CH<sub>4</sub> Dry Reforming Membrane Reactor for H<sub>2</sub> Production
Akira Nishimura, Satoshi Ohata, Kaito Okukura, Eric Hu
Abstract
Biogas is a promising resource for the production of H<sub>2</sub> since it liberates energy by recycling waste, along with the reduction of CO<sub>2</sub>. In this paper, the biogas dry reforming membrane reactor is proposed to produce H<sub>2</sub> for use in fuel cells. Pd/Cu alloy membrane is used to enhance the performance of the biogas dry reforming reactor. This study aims at understanding the effect of operating parameters such as feed ratio of sweep gas, pressure in the reactor, and reaction temperature on the performance of the biogas dry reforming membrane reactor. The effect of the molar ratio of the supplied CH<sub>4</sub>:CO<sub>2</sub>, feed ratio of the sweep gas, and the valve located at the outlet of the reaction chamber on the performance of biogas dry reforming are investigated. Besides, the thermal efficiency of the proposed reactor is also evaluated. The results show that the concentration of H<sub>2</sub> in the closed valve condition is higher than that of the open valve, and the optimum feed ratio of the sweep gas to produce H<sub>2</sub> is 1, irrespective of the molar ratio of supplied CH<sub>4</sub>:CO<sub>2</sub>. Also, H<sub>2</sub> selectivity and CO selectivity increases and decreases respectively when the reaction temperature increases, irrespective of the molar ratio of supplied CH<sub>4</sub>:CO<sub>2</sub>. Therefore, the thermal efficiency of the closed valve is higher than that of the opened valve. Also, the thermal efficiency is the maximum when the feed ratio of the sweep gas is 1 due to high H<sub>2</sub> production performance.