Electrochemical reforming vs. catalytic reforming of ethanol: A process energy analysis for hydrogen production

• The electrochemical reforming is a novel method for pure H2 production.
• Pure H2 can be obtained in more simple process than the catalytic one.
• Electrochemical reforming required less energy consumption vs. catalytic reforming.
• Electrochemical reforming of ethanol required less energy than water electrolysis.

This work reports an energetic analysis for hydrogen production via catalytic steam and electrochemical ethanol reforming processes. For both systems, a complete flow diagram process was proposed and simulated by Aspen HYSYS according to literature data. Besides hydrogen, other byproducts such as acetaldehyde (electrochemical reforming) and ethylene and methane (catalytic reforming) were also considered. The energy requirement of the different process units was calculated according to the operating parameters. Just process energy (thermal energy and electrical energy) consumption was considered in the study of the steam reforming whereas both energy process and electrical energy consumption were considered in the study of the electrochemical reforming. Material balances revealed electrochemical reforming to present higher hydrogen yields. (0.0436 vs. 0.0304 kg H2/kg C2H5OH of the classical catalytic reforming). In addition to its higher simplicity, simulation results showed a lower energy consumption in the H2 production by the electrochemical approach (29.2 vs. 32.70 k Wh/Kg of H2). These results demonstrated the interest of the electrochemical reforming of ethanol to obtain high purity hydrogen in a single reaction/separation step, thereby representing an interesting alternative to classical catalytic reforming.

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