Novel nanocomposite materials for oxygen and hydrogen separation membranes.

Design of oxygen and hydrogen separation membranes is the point of current interest in producing syngas from biofuels. Nanocomposites with a high mixed ionic-electronic conductivity are known to be promising materials for these applications. This work aims at studying performance of oxygen and hydrogen separation membranes based on nanocomposites PrNi 0.5 Co 0.5 O 3-δ + Ce 0.9 Y 0.1 O 2-δ and Nd 5.5 WO 11.25-δ + NiCu alloy, respectively. A high and stable performance promising for the practical application was demonstrated for these membranes. For oxygen separation membrane CH 4 conversion is up to 50% with H 2 content in the outlet feed being up to 25% at 900 °C. For reactor with hydrogen separation membrane complete EtOH conversion was achieved at T ∼ 700 °C even at the highest flow rate, and a high hydrogen permeation (≥1 ml H 2 cm−2 min−1) was revealed. • A high and stable performance was demonstrated for the membranes. • The oxygen/hydrogen permeation, syngas yield, H 2 /CO ratio meet criteria of the application. • Promising characteristics are provided by high conductivity and fast diffusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]