Authors: P. Ugarte, P. Durán, J. Lasobras, J. Soler, M. Menéndez, J. Herguido
Catalysis, Molecular Separations and Reactor Engineering Group (CREG), Aragon Institute of Engineering Research (I3A), University of Zaragoza, Spain
Source: This paper was published in International Journal of Hydrogen Energy.
Abstract: Biogas is a renewable resource obtained mainly from the anaerobic fermentation of agro-industrial and anthropogenic residues. The production of hydrogen by dry reforming of methane represents a potential application for this renewable energy carrier. This could play a positive contribution towards meeting the challenge of providing a global supply of energetically sustainable and environmentally friendly energy. This work combines a catalytic reaction, a separation and the catalyst regeneration in a single reactor. To this end, a two zone fluidized bed reactor (TZFBR) with hydrogen selective membranes has been employed (TZFBR + MB). The operating conditions for the process of dry reforming of biogas have been optimized experimentally, both in TZFBR and TZFBR + MB. Several catalysts were prepared (Ni/Al2O3, Nisingle bondCe/Al2O3, Nisingle bondCo/Al2O3), characterized and tested in reactions in both TZFBR and in TZFBR + MB. Finally, the influence of using oxygen or carbon dioxide as regenerating gases in the process has been studied. Experimental results show the feasibility of using CO2 for in situ catalyst regeneration, avoiding the potential problems associated with the use of O2.