SCALE-UP and demonstration of a compact bioethanol processor for renewable hydrogen production and purification

Abstract

Renewable hydrogen accelerates market use as costs reduce. Bioethanol is a well-established energy carrier to blend then burn with fossil fuels and is now ready as a convenient cost-effective feedstock for distributed or centralized renewable hydrogen production. Structured monolith catalysts coated with noble metal-based catalysts were demonstrated for renewable hydrogen generation. Key process steps include bioethanol autothermal reforming, water-gas shift and CO preferential oxidation. Each component was individually tested for 4000 h at laboratory scale. Pilot scale reactors were designed, constructed, and validated to produce high purity hydrogen. The bioethanol processor was designed based on simulation studies and validation experiments. A compact bioethanol processing system with capacity to produce up to 1.6 kg/h H2 was built and operated for more than 1000 h without significant loss of performance. A hydrogen rich stream with CO concentration lower than 15 ppm was obtained, which could be supplied to a PEM fuel cell system or further purified.