Novel nanocomposite materials for oxygen and hydrogen separation membranes

Design of oxygen and hydrogen separation membranes is the point of current interest in producing syngas from biofuels. Nanocomposites with a high mixed ionic-electronic conductivity are known to be promising materials for these applications. This work aims at studying performance of oxygen and hydrogen separation membranes based on nanocomposites PrNi0.5Co0.5O3-δ + Ce0.9Y0.1O2-δ and Nd5.5WO11.25-δ + NiCu alloy, respectively. A high and stable performance promising for the practical application was demonstrated for these membranes. For oxygen separation membrane CH4 conversion is up to 50% with H2 content in the outlet feed being up to 25% at 900 °C. For reactor with hydrogen separation membrane complete EtOH conversion was achieved at T ∼ 700 °C even at the highest flow rate, and a high hydrogen permeation (≥1 ml H2 cm−2 min−1) was revealed. •A high and stable performance was demonstrated for the membranes.•The oxygen/hydrogen permeation, syngas yield, H2/CO ratio meet criteria of the application.•Promising characteristics are provided by high conductivity and fast diffusion.