CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

There is an increasing demand for pure H2 (CO < 10 ppm) to be used in low temperaturePEM fuel cells. This puts pressure on the development of alternative routes to purify thehydrogen that is produced in reformers using feedstocks such as natural gas and ethanol. Agood option is the water gas shift reaction conducted in a membrane reactor to obtainultrapure hydrogen. This contribution critically reviews the developments that took placein this decade concerning more efficient, selective, long-lasting catalysts that do notcatalyze the formation of methane, graphitic and carbonaceous residues. The membranes,highly selective to hydrogen with high permeability and resistant to poisonous gases,particularly H2S, are also critically reviewed. Also included in this analysis are the differenttypes of membrane reactors most commonly used.