Pure hydrogen production via autothermal reforming of ethanol in a fluidized bed membrane reactor: A simulation study

In this paper the production of ultra-pure hydrogen via autothermal reforming of ethanol in a fluidized bed membrane reactor has been studied. The heat needed for the steam reforming of ethanol is obtained by burning part of the hydrogen recovered via the hydrogen perm-selective membrane thereby integrating CO₂ capture. Simulation results based on a phenomenological model show that it is possible to obtain overall autothermal reforming of ethanol while 100% of hydrogen can in principle be recovered at relatively high temperatures and at high reaction pressures. At the same operating conditions, ethanol is completely converted, while the methane produced by the reaction is completely reformed to CO, CO₂ and H₂.