Design of an ion transport membrane reactor for application in fire tube boilers

Mohamed A. Habib, Medhat A. Nemitallah*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

35 Scopus citations

Abstract

A design of an ITM (ion transport membranes) reactor is introduced in a two-pass fire tube boiler furnace to produce steam for power generation toward the ZEPP (zero emission power plant) applications. Oxygen separation, combustion and heat exchange occur in the first pass containing the multiple-units ITM reactor. In the second pass, heat exchange between the combustion gases and the surrounding water at 485 K (Psat 1/4 20 bar) occurs mainly by convection. The emphasis is to extract sufficient oxygen for combustion while maintaining the reactor size as compact as possible. Based on a required power in the range of 5e8 MWe, the fuel and gases flow rates were calculated. Accordingly, the channel width was determined to maximize oxygen permeation flux and keep the viscous pressure drop within a safe range for fixed reactor length of 1.8 m. Three-dimensional simulations were conducted for both counter and cocurrent flow configurations. Counter-current flow configuration proved its suitability in fire tube boilers for steam generation over the co-current flow configuration. The resultant reactor consists of 12,500 ITM units with a height of 5 m, membrane surface area of 2700 m2 and a total volume of 45.45 m3.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)787-801
Number of pages15
JournalEnergy
Volume81
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Mar 2015

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd.

Keywords

  • Fire tube boiler
  • ITM reactor
  • Oxy-combustion
  • Oxygen permeation
  • Steam generation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Civil and Structural Engineering
  • Modeling and Simulation
  • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
  • Building and Construction
  • Fuel Technology
  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology
  • Pollution
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • General Energy
  • Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
  • Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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