Analysis of a two-stage membrane reactor integrated with porous membrane having Knudsen diffusion characteristics for the thermal decomposition of hydrogen sulfide

Using basic equation for material balance, the thermal decomposition of hyd rogen sulfide to produce hydrogen was investigated in a two-stage membrane reactor integrated with porous membrane having Knudsen diffusion characteri stics. It was evaluated the effect of membrane area ratio S-m,S-P/S-m,S-R a nd the pressure in the Ist permeate chamber p(p1) on H-2 concentration in t he 2nd permeate chamber gamma(H2),(P2) and the flow rate of H-2 in the 2nd U-H2, With the decrease of S-m,S-P/S-m,S-R, gamma H-2,(P2) increases and ta kes constant value which is larger than the H-2 concentration in the permea te chamber for the single-stage membrane reactor by about 1.7 times. There is (S-m,S-P/S-m,S-R)(limit) corresponding to the condition that no flow in the Ist permeate chamber. With the increase of S-m,S-P/S-m,R, U-H2 increase s and takes maximum value U-H2,max at (Sm,P/Sm,R)limit There is an optimum PPI for higher U-H2,U-max, but the difference between the highest value of U-H2,U-max and the lowest one is small. The maximum value of U-H2,max is la rger than the amount of H-2 obtained in the single-stage by about 1.1 times . (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B,V. All rights reserved.