CFD Simulation of Hydrogen Generation and Methane Combustion Inside a Water Splitting Membrane Reactor

Hydrogen production from water splitting remains difficult due to the low equilibrium constant (e.g., Kp ≈ 2 × 10−8 at 900 °C). The coupling of methane combustion with water splitting in an oxygen transport membrane reactor can shift the water splitting equilibrium toward dissociation by instantaneously removing O2 from the product, enabling the continuous process of water splitting and continuous generation of hydrogen, and the heat required for water splitting can be largely compensated for by methane combustion. In this work, a CFD simulation model for the coupled membrane reactor was developed and validated. The effects of the sweep gas flow rate, methane content and inlet temperature on the reactor performance were investigated. It was found that coupling of methane combustion with water splitting could significantly improve the hydrogen generation capacity of the membrane reactor. Under certain conditions, the average hydrogen yield with methane combustion could increase threefold compared to methods that used no coupling of combustion. The methane conversion decreases while the hydrogen yield increases with the increase in sweep gas flow rate or methane content. Excessive methane is required to ensure the hydrogen yield of the reactor. Increasing the inlet temperature can increase the membrane temperature, methane conversion, oxygen permeation rate and hydrogen yield.