Durable ethanol steam reforming in a catalytic membrane reactor at moderate temperature over cobalt hydrotalcite

•Cobalt hydrotalcite-derived catalysts show stable operation for ESR in CMRs.•No carbon deposition occurred after 650 h as evidenced from SEM and XPS.•Pure H2 in the CMR is 3-fold higher than that obtained in a staged configuration.

Ethanol steam reforming has been carried out in a catalytic membrane reactor consisting of cobalt hydrotalcite [Co2Mg4Al2(OH)16]CO3·4H2O-derived catalyst doped with potassium supported over cordierite and a composite Pd–Ag selective 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 values of STP LH2,permeatemLETOH,liquid−1gcat−1 up to 3 times higher than the observed for the staged membrane reactor, where the catalyst has been placed in-series with the membrane. The influence of the temperature (673–873 K), the water-ethanol ratio (S/C = 1.8–3) and the retentate pressure (1–18 bar) on different performance parameters such as the hydrogen production and the pure hydrogen recovery has been evaluated. No carbon accumulation has been observed by SEM and XPS after 650 h operation.

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