Effect of incipient removal of hydrogen through palladium membrane on the conversion of methane steam reforming: Experimental and modeling

This paper presents a mathematical model based on the reaction rate expressions to describe the displacement of methane conversion in the steam reforming. The effect of several parameters including weight hourly space velocity (WHSV), load-to-surface ratio, reaction pressure, hydrogen partial pressure in permeate side and reaction temperature were investigated. Simulation and experimental results showed that a conversion higher than 80% could be achieved in a palladium membrane reactor at reaction temperature of 500 °C relative to 850 °C in a conventional fixed bed reactor (FBR). Besides, the yield of CO (<2%) in membrane reactor was much lower than that (>50%) in the FBR, which indicated the significant depression of CO production in use of membrane reactor.