Techno-economic analysis: Ethane steam reforming in a membrane reactor with H2 selectivity effect and profitability analysis

With the increased production of shale gas through a new drilling technology of hydraulic fracturing, much attention has been directed to various utilization methods for ethane accounting for about 7% of shale gas. As an efficient utilization method for ethane, ethane steam reforming in a membrane reactor is proposed in this paper to provide improved reactant conversions and product yields thus leading to a reduced operating temperature. To assess techno-economic feasibility of ethane steam reforming in a membrane reactor, parametric studies focusing on a H2 selectivity and economic analysis predicting profitability from cash flow diagrams based on a purified hydrogen in Korea were performed simultaneously providing very useful design and economic guidelines to implement a membrane reactor for ethane steam reforming.