Mingming Wang, Zhifei Hu, Kai Xue, Ziyu Ding, Jaka Sunarso, Purnami Purnami, Femiana Gapsari, Xiaoyao Tan, Zhigang Wang, Shaomin Liu
An intensified membrane reactor offers promising near future solution for converting ‘carbon-neutral’ bio-oil to hydrogen (H2). This work reports the development of two membrane reactor configurations made from asymmetric-structured nickel (Ni) hollow fiber membranes (ANHFMs), i.e., catalytic membrane reactor (CMR) and catalytic membrane micro-reactor (CMMR) for steam reforming of bio-oil, represented by acetic acid as bio-oil model compound. In CMR and CMMR, the dense Ni thin film in ANHFM serves as an H2-selective permeation membrane, which allows H2 permeation out of the reaction chamber while added Ni/Al2O3 functions as an efficient catalyst bed. CMMR is a new configuration developed here, that relies on the presence of fine catalyst particles on the microchannels within the porous substrate inside hollow fiber, deposited using special coating process. CMR, in contrast, adopts conventional membrane reactor configuration, with catalyst particles packed outside hollow fiber. Although both CMMR and CMR demonstrated higher carbon gasification efficiency and H2 yield due to in situ H2 removal, the former showed higher H2 separation efficiency relative to the latter, especially at higher liquid hourly space velocity (LHSV). Notably, CMMR displayed performance that is close to the target required for industrial H2 separation, i.e., H2 recovery of ∼72 % at 1000 °C and an LHSV of 59.84 h−1. The performance of CMMR for steam reforming of bio-oil model compound consisting of acetic acid, acetone, and ethanol was also tested, which was comparable to the performance of acetic acid alone. CMMR may thus play significant role for enabling hydrogen economy via biomass conversion pathway. © 2024 The Authors
State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tiangong University, Tianjin, 300387, China; College of Chemical Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China; Research Centre for Sustainable Technologies, Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Science, Swinburne University of Technology, Sarawak, Kuching, 93350, Malaysia; Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Brawijaya University, MT Haryono 167, Malang, 65145, Indonesia; School of Engineering, Great Bay University, Dongguan, 523000, China
