Investigation into enhancing reforming of biomass-derived glycerol in a membrane reactor with hydrogen separation

In order to investigate the hydrogen separation enhancing effect on glycerol steam reforming performance, the simulation is carried out via a packed bed membrane reactor, where the porous media model is employed to model the distribution of catalyst and the non-isothermal environment in the reactor is considered. The reforming performances with and without membranes are compared. The results indicate that the membrane separation can promote the hydrogen production at a low temperature. The impacts of operating parameters including catalyst load, fuel gas temperature, sweep gas velocity and sweep gas temperature on the enhancement of the reforming performance are analyzed. The results reveal that the membrane separation is very sensitive to the temperature variation under different operating conditions. It is essential to properly control the operating parameter so as to achieve the promotion of hydrogen yield with low cost of energy.