Mathematical simulation of WGS membrane reactor for gas from coal gasification

Mathematical model of a membrane reactor for the water-gas-shift (WGS) reaction and results of simulation studies are presented. The physicochemical phenomena and brief description of the model are given. Due to the fact that membranes for CO2 separation exhibit poor selectivity at the elevated temperature range (indispensable for the desired activity of WGS catalysts), the simulations were carried out only for H2 selective membranes, containing Pd or its alloys. Comparison of the conventional two-stage WGS reactor with the membrane reactor revealed that operating temperature range of the catalyst used in the membrane reactor unit has to be much wider than that in conventional industrial reactors with separate high- and low temperature catalyst stages and with cooling in between. Thus, the research of new catalysts should accompany development of the membrane reactor technology. Simulations discussed in the present paper were focused on processing the gas derived from the coal gasification plant. Some results of mathematical simulations are presented. They reveal that under some conditions the membrane reactor technology can be promising for the hydrogen production from the coal-derived gas.