Ceramic Membrane Devices for Ultra-High Purity Hydrogen Production: Mixed Conducting Membrane Development

The cost of hydrogen will be a major factor in establishing a commercially viable hydrogen economy. Economic projections suggest that a cost of $1.50/kg of ultrahigh purity (UHP) hydrogen is needed, compared with current costs of $5–6/kg. One of the few ways in which such stringent cost targets can be met is to extract UHP hydrogen from a process where it is a byproduct or from gasification products using cost-effective fuels such as biomass. Current membrane technologies for hydrogen separation are incompatible with the high-temperature, high-pressure environment in these chemical processes and Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) systems.