Modelling for a Palladium Membrane Water-Gas Shift Reactor

Abstract

This work is focused on the integration of palladium membranes, permeable to hydrogen, in tubular catalytic reactors for the Water-Gas Shift (WGS) reaction CO + H 2 O → CO 2 + H 2 , in view of pre-combustion carbon capture. The membrane allows hydrogen separation from the reaction products, so that the reaction conversion is increased, leading simultaneously to an increased H 2 recovery and to an effective H 2 and CO 2 separation. A control-oriented dynamic model of the integrated process has been set up (by Dymola and Matlab-Simulink ), including mass and energy conservation in the reactor feedgas stream and in its catalytic porous medium and a description of the WGS reaction kinetics, and accounting for the permeation characteristics of the membrane itself and of its support, for the possible presence of nitrogen as a sweep gas and for possible membrane poisoning by CO. Model parameters have been identified thanks to experimental data from a lab-scale test rig.