Ethanol steam reforming at very low temperature over cobalt talc in a membrane reactor

Ethanol steam reforming has been carried out at low temperature in a catalytic membrane reactor consisting of cobalt talc (Co3[Si2O5]2(OH)2) supported over cordierite and a Pd–Ag membrane. No sweep gas has been used, therefore, pure hydrogen has been obtained in the permeate stream, which has been maintained at atmospheric pressure. The configuration with the catalyst bed packed around the membrane has shown superior performance than the staged configuration, where the honeycomb catalyst has been placed in-series with the membrane. The influence of the temperature (598–673 K) and the pressure inside the reactor (5–15 bar) on different parameters such as the hydrogen production and the pure hydrogen recovery has been evaluated. The catalytic membrane reactor device has a rapid response to changes in the ethanol–water liquid mixture load; a constant hydrogen flow has been obtained after 2 s following variations of ±10%.

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► Ethanol steam reforming is carried out at very low temperature over cobalt talc.
► Pure hydrogen is produced in a catalytic Pd–Ag membrane reactor.
► Hydrogen production and recovery is maximum at 10 bar.
► The device exhibits rapid response to changes in the reactants load.