Cross-flow inducing structured catalyst for reduced concentration polarization in packed bed membrane reactors

Abstract

3D printed baffled logpile structures were recently identified as promising structured catalyst geometries for intensified heat transfer in chemical reactors. In this work, the potential of these structures for intensification of the mass transfer is studied by addressing concentration polarization in membrane-assisted steam methane reforming in a packed bed membrane reactor. Through pseudo-2D OpenFOAM computational fluid dynamics simulations, the performance was assessed using the hydrogen recovery and the conversion of methane as performance indicators. The results show that the integration of baffles into the logpile structure significantly reduces the degree of concentration polarization over a range of operating conditions, thanks to the convection-driven radial mass transport. Furthermore, it was found that the cross-flow regime characteristic of the baffled logpile structures scales effectively with the reactor diameter, demonstrating potential for scalability. Combined with the demonstrated heat transfer intensification, these findings lay the foundation for value-added application of 3D printed catalyst structures.