Thermal decomposition of carbon dioxide coupled with POM in a membrane reactor

Abstract In this study, we proposed coupling the thermal decomposition of carbon dioxide (CO 2 → CO + 1/2O 2 ) with the partial oxidation of methane (POM) to syngas (CH 4 + 1/2O 2 → CO + 2H 2 ) in a dense mixed‐conducting membrane reactor, in which the reaction of CO 2 decomposition took place in one side of the membrane and the POM reaction occurred in the other side of the membrane simultaneously (or methane reacted with oxygen that was permeated through the membrane from the CO 2 decomposition, to produce H 2 and CO over supported transition metal catalysts). A perovskite‐type oxygen‐permeable membrane of SrCo 0.4 Fe 0.5 Zr 0.1 O 3‐δ (SCFZ) was used for the membrane reactor. The effects of temperature and the feed flow rates of CO 2 and CH 4 on the reaction performance of the SCFZ membrane reactor were investigated. It was found that the CO 2 conversion increased with increasing the temperature and decreased with increasing the feed flow rates of CO 2 or with decreasing the feed flow rates of CH 4 . At 1173 K, the CO 2 conversion reached about 11.1%, and the CH 4 conversion, CO selectivity, and the ratio of H 2 /CO were 84.5%, 93%, and 1.8, respectively. © 2006 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2006