Energy and Hydrogen Production in Novel Membrane Reactors

The interest in gas separation membranes increased due to the issue of emissions production regulation and the transformation of hazardous releases into beneficial goods. Since combustion systems account for the majority of emissions, oxygen separation membranes have become crucial for both air split-ups in unpolluted oxy-combustion uses and the transfiguration of carbon dioxide and water into usable harvests like syngas and pure hydrogen. Other approaches for hydrogen and syngas fabrication are steam reforming and restricted oxidation of hydrocarbons. This chapter discusses the recent developments and future perspectives of such technologies for syngas and pure hydrogen production as well as uses of such fuels for clean combustion with carbon capture. Different cost-effective techniques for hydrogen production are discussed in this chapter including electrolysis using electricity from renewable as well as nuclear energy or photovoltaics, hydrogen from biomass, coal electrolysis to fossil fuels, and water splitting utilizing solar energy. Utilizing the technology of oxygen transport membranes (OTM) is also discussed as economical and reasonably simple mean of producing syngas/hydrogen from CO2/water excruciating and partial oxidation of hydrocarbons. This chapter delivers a thorough numerical analysis of the application of membranes for the catalytic membrane reactor (CMR) partial oxidation of methane (POM) for syngas production. When LaNi0.9Pt0.1O3 catalyst is present, the reactor contemplates employing a multi-layer oxygen permeable membrane composed of macroporous Ni–Al foam substrate. On one side of the CMR, air was nourished, and on the further crosswise, a fuel mixture consisting of CH4 and helium. The numerical model that took into account dry and steam reforming reactions adopted the indirect method for converting methane into syngas. The existing experimental records on the alike CMR in the previous works was utilized to certify the model. To increase the CMR's performance for syngas production, simulations were run across a range of operational settings. We looked into how CMR performance was affected by the concentration of feed air flow rate, sweep fuel and flow rate of sweep gas. The recent developments in syngas clean combustion with carbon captured are discussed. This is charted by a thorough numerical schoolwork on combined clean energy production, through oxy-combustion of syngas, and hydrogen production with a membrane reactor for H2O splitting. The study takes into account oxygen permeation, hydrogen fabrication by water splitting with the usage of an oxygen transport membrane, and syngas oxy-combustion. The possibility of a syngas, reactive gas, in an oxygen transference reactor for the synthesis of hydrogen and oxygen after water splitting is examined, and the outcomes are compared, with helium being used as the sweep gas. Oxy-combustion of syngas by means of the permeated oxygen is also explored and discussed in this chapter.