Simultaneous Production of Aromatics and COx-Free Hydrogen via Methane Dehydroaromatization in Membrane Reactors: A Simulation Study

As an alternative route for aromatics and hydrogen production, methane dehydroaromatization (MDA) is of significant academic and industrial interest due to the abundance of natural gas resources and the intensive demand for aromatics and COx-free hydrogen. In the present work, a simulation study on MDA in membrane reactors (MRs) was performed with the aim of co-producing aromatics and COx-free hydrogen with a highly improved efficiency. The effects of various parameters, including catalytic activity, membrane flux and selectivity, as well as the operating conditions on the MR performance were discussed with respect to methane conversion, hydrogen yield, and hydrogen purity. The results show that catalytic activity and membrane flux and selectivity have significant impacts on CH4 conversion and H-2 yield, whereas H-2 purity is mainly dominated by membrane selectivity. A highly improved MDA is confirmed to be feasible at a relatively low temperature and a high feed pressure because of the hydrogen extraction effect. To further improve MDA in MRs by intensifying H-2 extraction, a simple configuration combining a fixed-bed reactor (FBR) and an MR together is proposed for MDA, which demonstrates good potential for the high-efficiency co-production of aromatics and COx-free hydrogen.

Automated summary

Methane dehydroaromatization (MDA) is an alternative method for producing aromatics and hydrogen, which has attracted significant attention due to the abundance of natural gas resources and the demand for aromatics and COx-free hydrogen. In this study, a simulation of MDA in membrane reactors (MRs) was conducted to achieve highly efficient co-production of aromatics and COx-free hydrogen. The results showed that catalytic activity, membrane flux and selectivity, and operating conditions have significant impacts on the performance of MRs in terms of methane conversion, hydrogen yield, and hydrogen purity.