Waste Management and Conversion to Pure Hydrogen by Application of Membrane Reactor Technology

Abstract

Waste conversion has an essential role in the development of environmental-friendly methods to obtain efficient and clean energy. Due to increasing rate of waste production, waste management policy has become a very crucial issue in recent years. The main aim of the waste management is the increase of material and energy recovery from waste, which can reduce the landfill disposal and minimize the environmental impact. These goals can be achieved by developing and applying novel technologies such as membrane technology for waste recovery. Membrane technology is introduced as an applicable method for waste conversion to pure hydrogen which can be integrated with a high efficiency energy conversion system. In this study, different waste conversion techniques such as incineration, pyrolysis, gasification, and anaerobic digestion are reviewed, with focus on waste gasification to produce syngas and subsequently pure hydrogen production using membrane reactor. The potential and suitability of these configurations are discussed. Considering the related previous researches indicated that the membrane technology is a viable candidate for combined energy and material valorization. Finally, the continued advances that are being made in waste conversion, membrane durability, process control, and process efficiency of membrane reactor are expected to improve the commercial viability of waste conversion technologies to pure hydrogen, in the future.