Perovskite membrane reactor for continuous and isothermal redox hydrogen production from the dissociation of water

The redox water splitting is one of the most promising routes for sustainable hydrogen production. Towards this goal, serious technological obstacles are set: (i) by the non-isothermal operation of the redox process, that causes serious reactor construction problems, and (ii) by the need for efficient high temperature oxygen/hydrogen separation technology which is a very challenging development. In this paper, perovskite materials having the formula La0.3Sr0.7FeO3 were synthesized and subsequently tested for their high temperature oxidation/reduction behavior. The redox activity of the materials in relation to the water splitting reaction has been also investigated. Dense, disc shaped membranes of the materials were synthesized and placed in a membrane reactor. Experiments at 1133 K revealed the possibility of performing the reduction and oxidation steps simultaneously and isothermally on each side of the membrane reactor. A steady-state situation was thereby achieved where hydrogen was continuously produced on one side while the material was simultaneously regenerated on the other side. The created oxygen vacancy gradient formed the driving force for a continuous flux of vacancies from the membrane reduction surface to the membrane oxidation surface. The hydrogen production rate under the particular experimental conditions estimated to be ∼47.5 cm3 H2 (STP) m−2 min−1. It could be increased by a factor of approximately 3, up to ∼145 cm3 H2 (STP) m−2 min−1, if the membrane reduction was enhanced with a reductant such as carbon monoxide. This approach resulted in an efficient execution of the water gas shift reaction towards high purity hydrogen production.