Membrane-assisted propane partial oxidation for solid oxide fuel cell applications

Conversion of condensable fuels to syngas is required for on-site power generation by solid oxide fuel cells. Here, a membrane reactor is investigated to reform propane into syngas. The reactor consists of two chambers separated by an oxygen-permeable ceramic membrane, and propane is fed into one chamber while air is fed into the other. Propane is reformed into syngas by reacting with the permeated oxygen in the presence of Ru-Ni catalyst. The reactor attains a propane throughput conversion over 90%, H2, CO yield over 80% and syngas is produced at a rate of 22 mL cm−2 min−1 at 850 °C. The as-reformed fuel is rich in syngas due to the exclusion of nitrogen in air by the membrane. A disk-shaped solid oxide fuel cell, as fuels with the pre-reformed propane by the membrane reactor, exhibits maximum power densities comparable to the one fueled with pure hydrogen. The fuel cell operates stably with the pre-reformed propane, while it fails rapidly with the un-reformed propane. The membrane reactor shows advantages over the conventional fixed bed reactor in terms of reactor safety and fuel concentration, therefore holding a great promise for use as a pre-reformer in solid oxide fuel cell systems.