Enhancement of hydrogen production for steam reforming of biogas in fluidized bed membrane reactor

Abstract

Biogas is a promising source for hydrogen production to be supplied for fuel cell; however, biogas steam reforming process is operated at high temperatures and the obtained hydrogen-rich gas requires to be purified to improve the fuel cell efficiency due to its high component of carbon dioxide. A fluidized bed membrane reactor (FBMR), combining the reaction and the separation processes in single unit, is interesting option for hydrogen production from biogas. Therefore, the aim of this research is to analyze the hydrogen production from biogas via the steam reforming reaction in the FBMR. Firstly, a mathematical model based on the thermodynamic principal coupled with the hydrogen permeate rate via the membrane is developed to simulate a steam reforming process of biogas in the FBMR. To understand such a proposed reforming process, the comparison of biogas steam reforming in the conventional reformer (CR) and the FBMR is studied. The influence of key operating parameters of both the systems, such as temperature, reactor pressure as well as steam to carbon ratio, on the reactor performance in terms of the hydrogen production and purity is investigated. The result shows that the hydrogen product of biogas steam reforming in the FBMR is higher than that in the CR. The increase in the steam to carbon ratio has a minor influence on the hydrogen product in the FBMR while the hydrogen product of the FBMR rises considerably with increasing the operating temperatures and reactor pressure. Copyright © 2014, AIDIC Servizi S.r.l.