SBIR-STTR Award

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will investigate the use of amorphous alloys as hydrogen permeable membranes. There has been enormous interest in hydrogen separation from reformed hydrocarbon fuels. While hydrogen selective membranes have been used in these areas, their use has generally been limited because of cost constraints and membrane susceptibility to cracking and poisoning. Amorphous alloys have vastly improved mechanical properties and resistance to hydrogen embrittlement. If amorphous alloys can be engineered for hydrogen permeability, membrane reactors with longer life cycles would be feasible. This proposal will investigate promising amorphous alloy compositions through atomistic modeling, molecular dynamic simulation and catalytic property modification (by near-surface alloying), to yield superior hydrogen-related behavior. The proposed project will engineer and fabricate amorphous hydrogen permeable membranes with resistance to sulfur and other poisoning mechanisms. Promising amorphous alloys will be fabricated as thin-film membranes and tested for hydrogen permeability. Once hydrogen-permeable alloy compositions have been identified, these selected compositions will be further tested for hydrogen separation and purification from synthetic hydrocarbon reformate. Membrane engineering and characterization will be completed in Phase I, and the selected membrane system will be integrated into a compact mini-channel fuel reformer in Phase II of this project. The final product of Phase I and II will be a membrane reformer, capable of reforming commercially available, liquid and gaseous hydrocarbon fuels to high-purity hydrogen, for use in fuel cells

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop mini-channel membrane reformers to produce pure hydrogen from gaseous and liquid fuels. Fuel reforming of hydrocarbon fuels to yield high purity hydrogen is, at present, the only means for overcoming the lack of an established infrastructure for hydrogen. Fuel processors must be able to start up quickly, follow demand rapidly, be tolerant to sulfur, and operate efficiently over a wide range of conversion rates. The use of mini-channel reformers, with selective membrane removal of hydrogen at the site of production within the individual reformer stages, will lead to improved efficiency, thermodynamics and kinetics of reforming reactions. If successful, the proposed membrane reformer system will decrease system complexity, reduce costs, and allow ease of control, monitoring and transient response. The proposed technology has significant business opportunities in the business sector for high-purity merchant hydrogen, and in the civilian and military sectors for hydrogen fuel cells, used in portable power and distributed generation. Valuable scientific and technological understanding will also be gained about the behavior of hydrogen-permeable membranes and their use in high-temperature, sulfur-resistant, compact fuel reformers to produce high-purity hydrogen