Three-dimensional numerical modeling on high pressure membrane reactors for high temperature water-gas shift reaction

This study presents a three-dimensional numerical model that simulates the H-2 production from coal-derived syngas via a water-gas shift reaction in membrane reactors. The reactor was operated at a temperature of 900 degrees C, the typical syngas temperature at gasifier exit. The effects of membrane permeance, syngas composition, reactant residence time, sweep gas flow rate and steam-to-carbon (S/C) ratio on reactor performance were examined. Using CO conversion and H-2 recovery to characterize the reactor performance, it was found that the reactor performance can be enhanced using higher sweep gas flow rate, membrane permeance and S/C ratio. However, CO conversion and H-2 recovery limiting values were found when these parameters were further increased. The numerical results also indicated that the reactor performance degraded with increasing CO2 content in the syngas composition. Copyright (C) 2014, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.