Modeling of hydrogen production in catalytic membrane reactor through Ru-based catalysts with MgO and Nb2O5 as supports

Steam reforming of natural gas is the most used method to produce the hydrogen required for chemical industries. The increased demand for hydrogen consumption makes development of new technologies for hydrogen production. One of the proposed technologies is a catalytic membrane reactor due to removal of hydrogen from the reaction side and prevents the achievement of equilibrium conditions. This research investigates kinetic reaction model with utilization of Ru-based catalysts with MgO and Nb2O5 as the supports that develop the activity and selectivity of this reaction in the temperature range of 350ºC-750ºC and pressure range of 2-30 bar. The effects of different operational parameters such as temperature, pressure of the reaction, methane to steam ratio, membrane thickness, and sweep gas on total methane conversion and hydrogen production were studied. Based on the Δ-index, the optimum condition of catalytic membrane reactor was obtained within the operating condition ranges of temperature 410–475 0C, pressure ≥ 20 bar, thickness <10 μm, steam-to methane ratio 2< m < 3 and sweep factor s ≥ 10.