Development of a catalytic hollow fibre membrane microreactor as a microreformer unit for automotive application

A novel catalytic hollow fiber membrane microreactor (CHFMMR) generates hydrogen suitable for vehicular applications. Ethanol is converted to hydrogen through the ethanol steam reforming (ESR) with 5 mole of water per mole of ethanol. Yttria stabilised zirconia (YSZ) hollow fibres have been used as substrate for the deposition of Pd/Ag membrane on the outer shell of the hollow fiber and for 10 wt%NiO/MgO–CeO2 ESR catalyst inside the hollow fiber. The ESR has been carried out in a fixed-bed reactor, the catalytic hollow fibre microreactor (CHFMR) and the CHFMMR at temperatures ranging from 350 to 550 °C. At 510 °C, and the flow rate of hydrogen produced in the CHFMMR is three fold higher than that in the fixed-bed reactor and two fold higher than that in the CHFMR despite less amount of the catalyst is used in the CHFMMR. During the operation of the CHFMMR, high purity hydrogen is obtained outside of the shell, and the yield of this high purity hydrogen is more than 53% of the total hydrogen produced in the ESR.