INTRODUCTION

Hydrogen is one of the important secondary carrier of energy. It not only reduces the dependence on fossil fuel (when produced from thermochemical water splitting process), but also reduces the carbon foot print. The metal membrane is a potential route for production of high-purity hydrogen from gaseous mixture, because metals are permeable only to hydrogen. The composite metal membranes and membrane reactors in tubular configuration is highly effective and indispensable for production/separation/ recovery of high-purity hydrogen, with H₂-He selectivity >5000. Membrane reactor can enhance the equilibrium conversion of any equilibrium limited chemical reactions beyond 90%. The composite metal membranes are one of the important classes of metal membranes, as they have advantages of being low cost, while offering high selectivity. Membrane reactor is a process intensification tool for delivering industrially relevant products with enhanced yield and purity.

 

APPLICATION

BARC

• HIx section of Iodine-Sulphur thermochemical process.
• H₂ –He separation in tritium extraction system of ITER.
• Any other hydrogen production processes for making high purity (99.99%) hydrogen.

Non-BARC:

• Production/separation of hydrogen  from vent stream of hydrocracker in bio-jetfuel production for recycle and reuse
• Steam methane reforming for hydrogen production.
• H₂S and NH₃ decomposition of coke oven gas in steel industry for hydrogen production.
• R&D institutions and universities in India for their in house R&D works.

 

ADVANTAGES

·         High-purity hydrogen production.

·         Enhancement of equilibrium decomposition of several chemical reactions with enhanced hydrogen yield.

·         The by-products of several industries can be used to make valuable hydrogen as a product stream.

·         A simple and robust technology that can be operated in temperature of 200-500 °C in continuous mode with less foot print area, being highly modular in nature.

INTRODUCTION

Hydrogen is one of the important secondary carrier of energy. It not only reduces the dependence on fossil fuel (when produced from thermochemical water splitting process), but also reduces the carbon foot print. The metal membrane is a potential route for production of high-purity hydrogen from gaseous mixture, because metals are permeable only to hydrogen. The composite metal membranes and membrane reactors in tubular configuration is highly effective and indispensable for production/separation/ recovery of high-purity hydrogen, with H2-He selectivity >5000. Membrane reactor can enhance the equilibrium conversion of any equilibrium limited chemical reactions beyond 90%. The composite metal membranes are one of the important classes of metal membranes, as they have advantages of being low cost, while offering high selectivity. Membrane reactor is a process intensification tool for delivering industrially relevant products with enhanced yield and purity.

 

APPLICATION

BARC:

• HI_x section of Iodine-Sulphur thermochemical process.
• H₂ –He separation in tritium extraction system of ITER.
• Any other hydrogen production processes for making high purity (99.99%) hydrogen.

Non-BARC:

• Production/separation of hydrogen  from vent stream of hydrocracker in bio-jet fuel production for recycle and reuse.
• Steam methane reforming for hydrogen production.
• H₂S and NH₃ decomposition of coke oven gas in steel industry for hydrogen production.
• R&D institutions and universities in India for their in-house development works.

 

ADVANTAGES

·         High-purity hydrogen production.

·         Enhancement of equilibrium decomposition of several chemical reactions with enhanced hydrogen yield.

·         The by-products of several industries can be used to make valuable hydrogen as a product stream.

·         A simple and robust technology that can be operated in temperature of 200-500 °C in continuous mode with less foot print area, being highly modular in nature.

 

INFRASTRUCTURE REQUIRED

The following  infrastructure is required for the production of the composite metal membrane:-

 (i)   Sputtering machine for membrane fabrication.

(ii)   Vacuum furnace for membrane annealing.

(iii)  Membrane reactor for membrane testing and qualification.

(iv) One room of 3 m x 4 m for housing  sputter deposition machine with AC to maintain temperature of 23 ± 2 °C and relative humidity < 40 %.

(v)   One room of 2 m x 2 m for housing high temperature vacuum furnace.

(vi) One small lab of 1 m x 1 m for pre-treatment of membrane supports and storing the membranes.

 

RAW MATERIALS AVAILABILITY

Raw materials are easily available in local market.

 

MANPOWER REQUIREMENT

Skilled (Diploma mechanical/Technician): 1 No.

Unskilled: 1 No.