Hydrogen production through intensified steam methane reforming and hydrogen separation in a membrane rector: Process modeling, optimization, and scaling-up

This research performs a computational analysis of methane steam reforming in a Pd-integrated membrane system, featuring a porous outer shell and a multi-channel configuration, aimed at advancing the blue hydrogen production process. The effects of design parameters (tube diameters of 8, 10, and 12 mm, shell volume) and operating parameters (feed pressure, temperature, flow configuration, sweep flow rate, steam to carbon ratio) were examined. Increasing the sweep flow rate improved methane conversion and hydrogen recovery. Raising feed pressure from 5 to 15 barg reduced methane conversion from 42 % to 29 %. An increase in the steam-to-carbon ratio from 1 to 5 resulted in a significant improvement in methane conversion, rising from 20 % to 41 %. Increasing the feed flow rate led to reductions in both methane conversion and hydrogen recovery, with the highest methane conversion of 57 % observed at a feed rate of 0.00001 kg/s. Counter-current flow improved hydrogen recovery compared to co-current flow. Larger tube diameters increased methane conversion, while smaller diameters improved hydrogen recovery and selectivity. The process was scaled up to a 5–10 MWth hydrogen plant with 16,825–33,650 tubes, a 2.9–4.1 m shell diameter, and a 3.3–6.6 m³ reactor volume.