Micro and micro membrane reactors for advanced applications in chemical energy conversion

In the past few years several compact modular micro channel reactors were developed at the Institute for Micro Process Engineering of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Target applications are small to medium-scale hydrogen production, chemical heat storage, and the provision of synthetic natural gas and synthetic fuels based on carbon dioxide and hydrogen from renewable electrical energy. More specifically, a micro-membrane reactor for methane steam reforming was demonstrated at a scale of 0.5 standard litres per minute of pure hydrogen. It integrates a thin palladium foil supported by a planar metal substrate via laser welding into an ultra-compact module. Modules can be stacked easily for capacity increase. A similar system is under development for dehydrogenation of methyl cyclohexane to toluene for storing heat at a temperature level of 350-400°C. An evaporation-cooled micro packed bed reactor for methanation of carbon oxide mixtures originating from a solid oxide electrolyser was demonstrated at a scale of 5 standard litres of methane per minute. The system is currently scaled-up to 100 kWth methane output. Finally, a similar reactor system was developed for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and demonstrated in a scale of 0.2 kg of liquids per hour. The technology is now being commercialized by the KIT spin-off INERATEC GmbH.