A Novel Dual-Membranes WGS Reactor with Palladium Alloy and Polyvinyl Alcohol Membranes for Enhanced Hydrogen Recovery

M. Rahimipanah, M. Baniadam, S. H. Noie Baghban and M. Mahdavian

Abstract
A novel membrane reactor concept including palladium alloy membrane (selective to H2) and polyvinyl alcohol membrane (selective to CO2) is proposed for water gas shift reaction. The mathematical model of the reactor is developed for two reactor schemes, namely plug dual-membrane reactor (PDMR) and CSTR dual-membrane reactor (CDMR) with uni-dimensional and non-isothermal conditions. A comparison between PDMR and palladium alloy membrane reactor (PAMR) showed that PDMR volume becomes 30 % less than PAMR with 20 bar increase in feed pressure. Then the effect of Damkholer number, feed composition, and feed pressure on hydrogen recovery and CO conversion for PDMR and CDMR has been studied. Under the same operating conditions, CO conversion in PDMR is 10 % more than CDMR while its temperature decreases. The new proposed reactor configuration could pave the way for simultaneous production of hydrogen, increased CO conversion, and CO2 separation on an industrial scale.

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Keywords
Dual-membrane reactor, water gas shift reaction, palladium alloy membrane, polyvinyl alcohol membrane