Hydrogen membrane reformer

Layout of a power plant integrated with a hydrogen membrane reformer. (GT refers to gas turbine.)... 

A number of different plant layouts integrating hydrogen membrane reformers have been proposed in the literature. The main characteristics of these plants are reported in Table 10.2. Due to the wide variety of proposed layouts and design assumptions, it is difficult to obtain a clear indication of their relative thermodynamic performance. Efficiencies between 43% and 53% are reported, corresponding to penalties of 5-10% points with respect to the reference technologies without CO2 capture note that the extent of CO2 capture is -100% in cases where high selectivity dense membranes are used and no natural gas external firing is adopted. 

Yasuda, I. et al., Development of membrane reformer for highly-efficient hydrogen production from natural gas, Proceeding of XV World Hydrogen Energy Conference, Yokohama, Japan, 2004. 

Steam methane reforming with membrane reformer/WGS reactor for hydrogen production. 

Yasuda, I., T. Tsuneki, and S. Shiraski, Development of Membrane Reformer System for Highly-Efficient Hydrogen Production from Natural Gas, World Conference on Wind Energy, Renewable Energy, Fuel Cell (WCWRF 2005), Hamamatsu, Japan, June 2005. 

Hori, M. (2007a), Electricity Generation in Fuel Cell Using Nuclear-fossil Synergistic Hydrogen -Evaluation of a System with Sodium Reactor Heated Natural Gas Membrane Reformer and Alkaline Fuel Cell , 2007 Fall Meeting of Atomic Energy Society of Japan, Japan, September (in Japanese). 

Yasuda, I., Shirasaki, Y., Tsuneki, T., Asakura, T., Kataoka, A., Shinkai, H., Yamaguchi, R. (2004). Development of membrane reformer for high-efficient hydrogen production from natural gas. In "15 World Hydrogen Energy Conference, Yokohama 2004". Hydrogen Energy Systems Soc. of Japan (CDROM). 

Hydrogen is able to permeate selectively through palladium or palladium alloy membranes. This has led to the demonstration of membrane reformers in the labora-... 

The reforming process (as applied to a hydrocarbon or alcohol) yields a product stream that consists predominantly of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, water, unconverted feedstock, and trace by-products. This product stream mixture, called reformate, is unsuitable for direct use in low-temperature PEMFC and AFC, and some trace by-products (notably organosulfur compounds) will poison both high-temperature fuel cells and low-temperature fuel cells. A membrane for separating and purifying hydrogen from reformate must also be chemically compatible with the compounds in the reformate stream. 

In the case of recirculation-type membrane reformer, efficiency of reactor heat utilisation = 60%, yield of hydrogen from methane = 95%... 

M. Tashimo, et. al., Advanced Design of Fast Reactor - Membrane Reformer , Proceedings of OECD/NEA Second Information Exchange Meeting on Nuclear Production of Hydrogen, Argonne USA, 2-3, October 2003, p.267 (2003). 

A concept for nuclear production of hydrogen, FR-MR , which combines sodium cooled fast reactors (SFR) with the membrane reformer technology, has been studied jointly by MHI, ARTEC, TGC and NSA[15]. 

TGC has demonstrated the operation of membrane reformer at a hydrogen fueling station for FCV in downtown Tokyo in 2004-2005. The system performance, efficiency and long-term durability/reliability were confirmed by producing >99.99% hydrogen at 40 Nm /h for more than 3 000 hours with hydrogen production efficiency of about 80% (HHV). 

In the conceptual design, the nuclear plant is a type of SFR, mixed oxide fuel, sodium cooled with power output of 240 MWt for producing 200 000 Nm /h. The schematic diagram of nuclear-heated recirculation-type membrane reformer is shown in Figure 15. The hydrogen production cost of this process is assessed to be competitive with those of the conventional, natural gas burning, steam methane reformer plants. 

Designed and tested advanced membrane technology that separates pure hydrogen from reformate, thereby enabling higher fuel cell power densities and eliminating potential for electrode poisoning. 

Membrane reformers take advantage of a useful feature of hydrogen, namely its ability to selectively permeate through Pd or Pd alloy membranes. As has been shown on a laboratory scale, the hydrogen is relatively clean and its continuous removal increases the methane conversion level [21]. 

KUlmeyer RP. NETL progress on S-tolerant hydrogen membranes. Fuel Cell Bull. 2004 2 3. Emonts B, Hansen JB, Jorgensen SL, H Uein B, Peters R. Compact methtmol reformer test for fuel-cell powered light-duty vehicles. J Power Sources. 1998 7 288. 

The same type of membrane fuel ceU can be fed with a liquid solution of methanol in water instead of hydrogen or reformate as fuel. The electrochemical... 

P. Ferreira-Aparicio, M. Benito, K. Koua-chi, S. Menad, Catalysis in membrane reformers A high-performance catalytic system for hydrogen production from methane,/. Catal. 2005, 231, 331-343. 

S. L. Jorgensen, Membrane reforming for hydrogen, Catal. Today 199S. 46(2-3), 193-201. 

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