Production of hydrogen from purge gases of ammonia plants in a catalytic hydrogen-permselective membrane reactor

Abstract The present study investigates hydrogen production in a hydrogen-permselective membrane reactor from purge gases of an ammonia plant. Hydrogen which initially exists in the purge gases and hydrogen that is produced from decomposition of ammonia on nickel–Alumina catalyst bed simultaneously permeate from reaction side to shell side through a thin layer of palladium–silver membrane. A sweep gas can be used in the shell side for increasing driving force. The amount of hydrogen that can be gained annually and effect of pressure, temperature, thickness of Pd–Ag layer, configuration of flow in the membrane reactor and sweep gas flow ratio have been studied. This study shows that the countercurrent mode is better than co-current mode of operation. The rate of hydrogen permeation increases with increasing of temperature, pressure and sweep gas flow rate. This approach produces and separates large amounts of hydrogen and decreases environmental impacts owing to ammonia emission.

[1]  L. F. Brown.  A comparative study of fuels for on-board hydrogen production for fuel-cell-powered automobiles , 2001 .

[2]  S. Konishi,et al.  Effects of impurities on hydrogen permeability through palladium alloy membranes at comparatively high pressures and temperatures , 1983 .

[3]  M. De Falco,et al.  Simulation of large-scale membrane reformers by a two-dimensional model , 2007 .

[4]  R. Hughes,et al.  Elimination of Ammonia from Coal Gasification Streams by Using a Catalytic Membrane Reactor , 1995 .

[5]  Heather M. Coleman,et al.  Metal-catalysed steam reforming of ethanol in the production of hydrogen for fuel cell applications , 2002 .

[6]  Shigeyuki Uemiya,et al.  Brief Review of Steam Reforming Using a Metal Membrane Reactor , 2004 .

[7]  F. Ackerman,et al.  Permeation of hydrogen and deuterium through palladium-silver alloys , 1972 .

[8]  J. Sannier,et al.  Fuel Clean-Up System: Poisoning of Palladium-Silver Membranes by Gaseous Impurities , 1988 .

[9]  A. Nielsen,et al.  Rate equation and mechanism of ammonia synthesis at industrial conditions , 1964 .

[10]  Yu-Ming Lin,et al.  Effect of incipient removal of hydrogen through palladium membrane on the conversion of methane steam reforming: Experimental and modeling , 2003 .

[11]  P. Wild,et al.  CATALYTIC PRODUCTION OF HYDROGEN FROM METHANOL , 2000 .

[12]  Enrico Drioli,et al.  Methanol and ethanol steam reforming in membrane reactors : an experimental study , 2007 .

[13]  G. Manzolini,et al.  Hydrogen production from ethanol steam reforming : energy efficiency analysis of traditional and membrane processes , 2008 .

[14]  Charles N. Satterfield,et al.  Heterogeneous catalysis in practice , 1980 .

[15]  Chunshan Song,et al.  Fuel processing for low-temperature and high-temperature fuel cells , 2002 .

[16]  Bernd Emonts,et al.  Methanol steam reforming in a fuel cell drive system , 1999 .

[17]  Stefano Cavallaro,et al.  Hydrogen production by auto-thermal reforming of ethanol on Rh/Al2O3 catalyst , 2003 .

[18]  Hengyong Xu,et al.  Hydrogen production capacity of membrane reformer for methane steam reforming near practical working conditions , 2008 .

[19]  Kristopher Gardner,et al.  An analysis of hydrogen production from ammonia hydride hydrogen generators for use in military fuel cell environments , 2004 .

[20]  H. Takenaka,et al.  Solid polymer electrolyte water electrolysis , 1982 .

[21]  Marcello De Falco,et al.  Pd-based membrane steam reformers: A simulation study of reactor performance , 2008 .

[22]  S. Tosti,et al.  Co-current and counter-current configurations for ethanol steam reforming in a dense Pd–Ag membrane reactor , 2008 .

[23]  Fausto Gallucci,et al.  Experimental study of the methane steam reforming reaction in a dense Pd/Ag membrane reactor , 2004 .

[24]  Johannes Schmitz,et al.  Steam reforming of natural gas with intergrated hydrogen separation for hydrogen production , 1987 .

[25]  M. Rahimpour,et al.  Modeling and simulation of ammonia removal from purge gases of ammonia plants using a catalytic Pd-Ag membrane reactor. , 2008, Journal of hazardous materials.

[26]  Stefano Cavallaro,et al.  Hydrogen Production by Steam Reforming of Ethanol: A Two Step Process , 2000 .

[27]  Fausto Gallucci,et al.  Pd–Ag membrane reactor for steam reforming reactions: A comparison between different fuels , 2008 .

[28]  Jingyu Xi,et al.  Steam reforming of ethanol for hydrogen production over NiO/ZnO/ZrO2 catalysts , 2008 .

[29]  Mohammad Reza Rahimpour,et al.  Enhancement of hydrogen production in a novel fluidized-bed membrane reactor for naphtha reforming , 2009 .

[30]  John P. Collins,et al.  A mathematical model of a catalytic membrane reactor for the decomposition of NH3 , 1993 .

[31]  Bernard P. A. Grandjean,et al.  Methane steam reforming in asymmetric Pd- and Pd-Ag/porous SS membrane reactors , 1994 .

[32]  Valerio Cozzani,et al.  Sustainability assessment of hydrogen production by steam reforming , 2008 .

[33]  T. Nakajima,et al.  Effect of crystallite size on the catalysis of alumina-supported cobalt catalyst for steam reforming of ethanol , 1998 .

[34]  R. Hurlbert,et al.  Diffusion of Hydrogen through Palladium , 1961 .