Catalytic partial oxidation of coke oven gas to syngas in an oxygen permeation membrane reactor combined with NiO/MgO catalyst

A high oxygen permeability and sufficient chemical and mechanical stability mixed ion and electron conductivity membrane to withstand the hash strong oxidation and reduction working conditions is significant for the membrane reactor to commercial-scale plant. In this paper, a disk-shaped Ba1.0Co0.7Fe0.2Nb0.1O3−δ membrane was applied to a membrane reactor for the partial oxidation of methane in coke oven gas (COG) to syngas. The reaction was carried out using NiO/MgO solid solution catalyst by feeding COG. The reforming process was performed successfully; 95% CH4 conversion, 80% H2 selectivity, 106% CO selectivity and 16.3 ml cm−2 min−1 oxygen permeation flux were achieved at 1148 K. The reaction has been steadily carried out for more than 100 h. The NiO/MgO catalyst used in the membrane reactor exhibited good catalytic activity and resistance to coking in the COG atmosphere. Characterization of the membrane surface by SEM and XRD after long life test showed that both the surface exposed to the air side and reaction side still preserved the Perovskite structure which is implied that the practical application of this membrane as membrane reactor for partial oxidation of COG is promising.