Simulation of Oxygen Transport Membranes for CPO Reactors in Small-scale Hydrogen or Syngas Production Applications

The proposed work aims at presenting a 1D finite volume steady state simulation model of an Oxygen Transport Membrane for Catalytic Partial Oxidation (OTM-CPO) reactor developed at the Group of Energy COnversion Systems (GECOS) at Politecnico di Milano. The model is able to simulate supported and unsupported perovskite-based reactive membranes by means of a lumped mass and energy transport method; the active ceramic layer is modelled throughout a generalised O2permeation equation, which depends on the micro-structure characteristics and mixed-ion conduction properties of the material. The supporting porous structure is represented by a mass diffusion model dominated by gas-gas, porous and surface exchange transport processes. The model also includes a global chemical reaction kinetic mechanism of CPO on Rh-based catalysts. The model is applied to simulate the behaviour of a membrane reactor operated upstream the Hydrogen Transport Membrane for Methane Steam Reforming (HTM-MSR) installed at the Laboratory of Micro-Cogeneration (LMC) at Politecnico di Milano. The test bench is focused on testing fuel pre-processing systems for low temperature fuel cells (PEM) applications. The simulation object of this work would allow obtaining a feasibility assessment of the system and a preliminary design of the OTM-CPO reactor.