Generalized model for predicting methane conversion to syngas in membrane reactor

Abstract

Present work aims to provide a conceptual framework for predicting methane conversion efficiency and CO selectivity in a membrane reactor which may assist in selecting the type of membrane and minimizing the cost of syngas production. A comparative evaluation of the performance of ceramic (inorganic) membrane reactors was carried out with other types of synthetic membrane reactors. Data has been taken only from those research papers in which reactor is operating in a temperature range of 800 – 900ºC and the pressure range is 1-2 atm. Linear regression analysis was performed and a generalized equation was developed to predict the methane conversion and CO selectivity using different types of membranes. Simulations were performed using MATLAB ODE45 to investigate feasibility of the developed model. CO selectivity was observed better for ceramic membrane reactors since it achieves 90% saturation in 25 hours while for other synthetic membranes, the conversion is only 10% (approx). Overall, ceramic membrane reactors were found to be better than other synthetic membrane reactor due to effective CO selectivity and CH4 conversion.Keywords: Syngas, CH4 conversion, CO selectivity, ceramic membrane