Hydrogen production from the steam reforming of liquid hydrocarbons in membrane reactor

Hydrogen production from the steam reforming of liquid hydrocarbons over a self-made nickel catalyst was investigated in a fixed bed palladium membrane reactor (PMR). The reactions were carried out at 723–823 K and 200–900 kPa. The applied Pd membrane was developed by a novel electroless plating method. The influences of working conditions on the performance of the PMR were also studied. The results indicate that the membrane has a H2 permeance of 50.0 m3 m−2 h−1 bar−1 and a H2/N2 separation coefficient of 1200, determined at 773 K and transmembrane pressure of 100 kPa using a single gas method. Owing to the selective removal of H2 by the membrane, the yield of H2 greatly increased; meanwhile the yield of CH4 efficiently decreased. The purity of H2 in the permeate side of membrane could be maintained over 99.5%. H2 production capacity of the PMR could be as high as 23.1 m3 m−2 h−1 (m3 H2 per m2 membrane area per hour) under optimized working conditions. The reactions in the steam reforming of liquid hydrocarbons and H2 separation are highly integrated in the PMR, which suggests that the steam reforming of liquid hydrocarbons in PMR could be an attractive process for H2 production under mild reaction conditions.