Sai P. Katikaneni

Microporous silica membranes: fundamentals and applications in membrane reactors for hydrogen separation

This chapter discusses the research and development of membrane reactors, incorporating microporous silica-based membranes, specifically for hydrogen production. Microporous silica membranes are first introduced alongside a discussion of relevant gas transport mechanisms, membrane performance parameters, membrane reactor designs and membrane reactor performance metrics. This is followed by an in-depth analysis of the various research investigations where silica membrane reactors have been used to produce hydrogen and/or syngas from hydrocarbon reforming reactions. Of particular importance here is the hydrothermal instability of silica-based membranes at the required operating temperatures and so the chapter closes by presenting the future research trends and industrial design challenges and considerations of silica-based membrane reactors.

Fuel cells as an energy source for desalination applications.

Nowadays, there is a renewed interest in fuel cell technology from industry and academia, electrochemistry and catalysis scientists. This interest is due to environmental legislations for CO2 and other greenhouse gases emissions (United Nations Environment Programme and the World Trade Organization, 2009) that demand the use of high efficiency energy production systems. Such systems have great potential in the area of desalination technology (Kenet, 2003, Al-Hallaj et al., 2004, Singh, 2008, Wang et al. 2011, Jones, 2013). Fuel cells are characterised by high operation efficiency, which results in decreased fuel consumption, and low environmental impact. A fuel cell is a device that converts the chemical energy of a fuel directly into electricity through electrochemical reactions, with low waste heat (e.g. SOFC in Fig. 1). The first fuel cell was fabricated back in 1830s, and slow but steady progress has been made toward their commercialization since then.