Simultaneous production of pure nitrogen and syngas in BaCe_0.5Fe_0.5O_3- membrane reactor

Oxygen transport membrane reactors were often utilized to integrate air separation with catalytic oxidation of methane for producing syngas. In this work, we employed Fe-based BaCe0.5Fe0.5O3-delta (BCF5050) membrane with satisfied oxygen permeability to simultaneously produce pure nitrogen and syngas via coupling air separation with oxy-CO2 reforming of methane. By co-feeding CH4 and CO2 in reaction side of membrane, oxygen in air side can efficiently permeate to the other side of membrane. After introducing a porous layer and Ni/Al2O3 on methane side, it was found that removal rate of oxygen from air can be significantly enhanced, which finally resulted in a higher nitrogen purity. Nitrogen with a purity over 99.3 % was constantly produced at a rate of ca. 3.6 cm(3) min(-1) at the exit of air side. Meanwhile, CH4 and CO2 conversion of over 92 %, CO and H-2 selectivity of above 95 % were also achieved on the other side of membrane during 140 h test period.