Modeling of Membrane Reactors for Hydrogen Production and Purification

Membrane reactors have been proposed for many different applications, in particular for hydrogen production. Modeling of these reactors is essential in order to understand their behavior and to design and optimize the membrane reactor for a given reaction system. Membrane reactors for hydrogen production and purification can essentially be classified into packed bed and fluidized bed configurations. In this chapter the most used models for both configurations along with the constitutive equations to be used in reactor modeling are shown and discussed. The limit (maximum) conversion that can be reached in a membrane reactor is also discussed. A model reaction, methane steam reforming, has been selected to show how the models are used. In the chapter the salient characteristics of both reactor configurations and their limitations are also discussed. Finally, the multi-scale modeling CFD approach for gas solid two phase systems is introduced and applied to membrane reactors.