Comparative analysis of conventional steam methane reforming and PdAu membrane reactor for the hydrogen production

A comparison study between conventional and PdAu-based membrane steam methane reforming (SMR) processes for small-scale hydrogen production was conducted. Both processes were simulated using a commercial simulation software Aspen Plus. For the PdAu-based membrane reactor, a 1D pseudo-homogenous model was developed via Aspen Custom Modeler (ACM). The optimum operating pressure and temperature for the membrane SMR process are 30 bar and 550 degrees C. While the conventional SMR process has higher performance operating at 23 bar and 900 degrees C at the reforming reactor outlet. The simulation results revealed that the membrane SMR process has higher methane conversion, hydrogen yield, and process energy efficiency than the conventional SMR process. Moreover, cost analysis was conducted for both processes to study their economic feasibility. The analysis revealed that hydrogen production costs for conventional and membrane SMR processes are 4.54 and 2.87 $/kg H-2 respectively. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

A comparative study between conventional and PdAu-based membrane steam methane reforming processes for small-scale hydrogen production revealed that the membrane SMR process outperforms the conventional SMR process in terms of methane conversion, hydrogen yield, and process energy efficiency. Economic analysis showed that the hydrogen production costs for the membrane SMR process are significantly lower than those for the conventional SMR process.