Pure Hydrogen Extraction From Ethanol Via Integrated Micro-Membrane Reactors

Our research group is aimed at developing a compact, integrated micromembrane system capable of coupling hydrogen production via steam reforming of ethanol with permselective hydrogen purification via dense palladium films. At the heart of this design is a ceramic microchannel cartridge that can ultimately be reversibly packaged with precision-machined distributors for realizing complex integration architectures for maximum mass and/or heat transport rates. This presentation will review recent advances in the development of ethanol steam reforming membrane systems in this architecture.

In order to realize this novel integrated micro-membrane reactor design, first a dense ~10 ìm perm-selective palladium film was coated in the multichannel of cordierite monolithic ceramic supports by electroless plating technique to purify hydrogen from the products of ethanol steam reforming and water gas shift reaction. Porous catalytic washcoats were then employed over the palladium film using CuO/Al2O3, Ni/Al2O3-SiO2 and Rh/Al2O3 catalysts for ethanol SR and Cu/Zn/Al2O3 for WGSR. Finally, a precision-machined distributor capable of coupling 5x5 multichannel catalytic membranes in series was packaged to a ceramic microchannel cartridge to enable process intensification within a single structure. The successful demonstration of the integrated ceramic multichannel membrane networks allows extracting pure hydrogen from ethanol directly in a new all-in-one micro-membrane reactor.