Catalytic Membrane Reactor: Multilayer membranes elaboration

Overview & Synopsis

Methane conversion to syngas is very attractive for hydrogen or clean fuel production and provides an alternative to oil products. An efficient architecture for the membrane reactor is constituted of a porous support, a thin dense membrane and a catalyst layer. This work is focused on the elaboration process of such asymmetric membranes by co-sintering of at least the porous support and the dense membrane and specially the choice of well adapted materials. La0.8Sr0.2Fe0.7Ga0.3O3-δ perovskite material has been chosen as the dense membrane because it exhibits a good compromise between oxygen flux and stability. The choice of the material for the porous support is mainly oriented by the sintering behaviour of the membrane, the thermal expansion behaviour of both layers to avoid cracks formation under working conditions and the chemical inertness of both materials. Several formulations fulfilling these three requirements were synthesized by liquid phase reaction and tape-cast. A pore forming agent was added in the support tapecasting slurry in order to create a controlled porosity. Then, the porous support has been characterized in term of gas permeability and thermal expansion under working conditions. Keywords: Ceramic membrane, co-sintering, perovskite, syngas, mixed conducting materials.