Water splitting coupled with partial oxidation of methane (POM) using an oxygen-transporting membrane (OTM) would be a potentially ideal way to produce high-purity hydrogen as well as syngas. Over the past decades, substantial efforts have been devoted to the development of supported membranes with appropriate configurations to achieve considerable performance improvements. Herein, we describe the design of a novel symmetrical membrane reactor with a sandwich-like structure, whereby a largescale production (>10 mL min(-1) cm(-2) ) of hydrogen and syngas can be obtained simultaneously on opposite sides of the OTM. Furthermore, this special membrane reactor could regenerate the coke-deactivated catalyst in situ by water steam in a single unit. These results represent an important first step in the development of membrane separation technologies for the integration of multiple chemical processes.
Keywords: catalyst regeneration; hydrogen production; membrane reactor; methane; water splitting.
© 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.