Technology Alerts: Solar molten salt heated membrane reformer for natural gas upgrading and hydrogen generation: A CFD model

Type	Journal Article
Author	Syed A. M. Said
Author	David S. A. Simakov
URL	http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0038092X15006556
Volume	124
Pages	163-176
Publication	Solar Energy
Date	February 2016
Abstract	Parabolic trough solar collectors can be used to drive endothermic reactions, such as methane reforming, while using molten salts as a heat transfer fluid. However, linear focus concentrators can only provide temperatures under 600 °C, resulting in CH4 conversions well below 50%. The equilibrium can be shifted toward much higher conversions if H2 is continuously removed from the reaction mixture via a H2-selective membrane, while simultaneously generating a high-purity H2 stream. Authors report a study in which a tube-and-shell, molten salt-heated packed bed membrane reformer (Ni/Al2O3 catalyst, 5 μm supported Pd film membrane) is analyzed numerically using computational fluid dynamics and non-isothermal formulation.

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