Modelling and simulation of a membrane microreactor using computational fluid dynamics

In this paper, the effect of miniaturisation and inlet velocity variation on the performance of a membrane microreactor is studied numerically. The microreactor consists of a reaction channel, in which the water gas shift reaction takes place, and a permeate channel, in which the permeating hydrogen is swept away. These channels are separated by a selective palladium membrane. A 3D CFD model is developed to account for hydrodynamics, mass transfer, chemical reaction and permeation through the membrane. It is found that reactor miniaturisation significantly improves hydrogen yield and recovery. Furthermore, the reaction channel feed velocity is found to exert remarkable influence on reactor performance, whereas the impact of the sweep gas inlet velocitiy can be considered as less important. However, the latter cannot be neglected, and thus, both channels have to be considered simultaneously.