Innovative non–oxidative methane dehydroaromatization via solar membrane reactor

Highlights: • A novel system of NO–MDA with membrane reactor driven by solar energy is proposed. • The η_s._→f and η_HHV can reach as high as 33.72% and 85.89%. • Increment of α, η_s._→f, η_HHV and η_ex attain 69.95%, 17.19%, 15.55% and 12.87% via HPM. • The CDRR and SCSR can achieve 22.18 g/m/h, 9.05 g/m/h at 0.01 bar, 750 °C. A novel solar–driven Non–Oxidative Methane Dehydroaromatization (NO–MDA) system integrated with membrane reactor is proposed in this study. NO–MDA driven by solar energy is a promising method to directly product benzene and pure hydrogen, in which solar thermal energy is converted into chemical energy. In this study, kinetic and thermodynamic analyses of NO–MDA via hydrogen permeation membrane (HPM) reactor were conducted based on numerical simulation. The partial pressure, conversion rate and thermodynamic efficiency under different temperatures (600–800 °C) and permeate pressures (0.01–1 bar) were studied and analyzed. Pure hydrogen and a near complete conversion rate (99.9%) are theoretically obtained due to the separation of hydrogen via HPM reactor, which shifts the reaction equilibrium forward for higher conversion rate. The first–law thermodynamic efficiency, the solar–to–fuel efficiency, and the exergy efficiency can reach as high as 85.89%, 33.72%, and 88.12%, respectively. This study exhibits the feasibility of efficient NO–MDA via HPM reactor driven by solar energy.