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A Flow-through catalytic membrane micro-reactor for hydrogen production by methanol steam reforming
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  • Senqing Fan,
  • Yu Chen,
  • Yilin Wang,
  • Huiyun Huang,
  • Ke Bai,
  • Haocun Wen,
  • Zeyi Xiao,
  • Zewei Bao
Senqing Fan
Sichuan University

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Yu Chen
Sichuan University
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Yilin Wang
Sichuan University
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Huiyun Huang
Sichuan University
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Ke Bai
Sichuan University
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Haocun Wen
Sichuan University
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Zeyi Xiao
Sichuan University
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Zewei Bao
Sichuan University
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Abstract

A flow-through catalytic membrane micro-reactor (CMR) with Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 nanoparticles immobilized in porous membrane pores has been developed for hydrogen production by methanol steam reforming (MSR). The characteristics for CMR demonstrated Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 nanoparticles with almost 200 nm were successfully in situ immobilized in membrane pores. During MSR for hydrogen production in CMR by flow-through mode, hydrogen yield of 500 mmol h-1 g-1 cat. and selectivity of 100% can be achieved under the condition of temperature being 360℃, molar ratio of water to methanol of 8.8 and weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) of 9.28 h-1. Compared with the commercial fixed bed reactor, the hydrogen productivity in CMR is one order of magnitude higher, owing to MSR confined in the space of membrane pore with micro-scale. The methanol conversion rate of over 95% can be expected, if five sheets of CMR with thickness of 5 mm was assembly in series.