In this study, a proton-conducting membrane-based pilot plant unit for steam methane reforming is investigated. The pilot unit provides simultaneous hydrogen production via steam reforming of methane as well as electrochemical hydrogen separation and compression. The pilot unit comprises 5 connected stacks containing 36 membrane cells each. The proton-conducting cells utilized are composed of Ni-BZCY electrodes and a BZCY electrolyte. A long-term test of 800 h was first conducted to investigate the performance stability and durability of the pilot unit. Stable methane conversion of higher than 99% was attained during the long-term test. Also, the average hydrogen purity was >99% during the 800 h of continuous operation. In addition to this, a parametric study was conducted to investigate the effects of varying feed pressure, membrane pressure differential, and methane feed flow rate. Also, the hydrogen purity is observed to entail an increasing trend with the differential pressure across the membranes, while the hydrogen recovery and system efficiencies are found to decrease at higher differential pressures. The pilot unit is observed to provide high methane conversions as well as hydrogen purities while maintaining stable performance during long-term testing and evaluation.
Siddiqui et al. (Mon,) studied this question.