Regeneration of Exhausted Palladium-Based Membranes: Recycling Process and Economics.

The aim of the present work is the recycling treatment of tubular α-AlO-supported ceramic membranes with a Pd/Ag selective layer, employed in hydrogen production with integrated CO capture. A nitric acid leaching treatment was investigated, and recovered ceramic supports were characterized, demonstrating their suitability for the production of novel efficient membranes. The main objective was the metal dissolution that preserved the support integrity in order to allow the recovered membrane to be suitable for a new deposition of the selective layer.

Application of Pd-Based Membrane Reactors: An Industrial Perspective.

The development of a chemical industry characterized by resource efficiency, in particular with reference to energy use, is becoming a major issue and driver for the achievement of a sustainable chemical production. From an industrial point of view, several application areas, where energy saving and CO₂ emissions still represent a major concern, can take benefit from the application of membrane reactors. On this basis, different markets for membrane reactors are analyzed in this paper, and their technical feasibility is verified by proper experimentation at pilot level relevant to the following processes: (i) pure hydrogen production; (ii) synthetic fuels production; (iii) chemicals production.

Waste to Chemicals for a Circular Economy.

The implementation of a circular economy is a fundamental step to create a greater and more sustainable future for a better use of resources and energy. Wastes and in particular municipal solid waste represent an untapped source of carbon (and hydrogen) to produce a large range of chemicals from methane to alcohols (as methanol or ethanol) or urea. The waste to chemical process and related economics are assessed in this concept article to show the validity of such solution both from an economic point of view and from an environmental perspective considering the sensible reduction in greenhouse gas emissions with respect to conventional production from fossil fuels.

Waste-to-methanol: Process and economics assessment.

The waste-to-methanol (WtM) process and related economics are assessed to evidence that WtM is a valuable solution both from economic, strategic and environmental perspectives. Bio-methanol from Refuse-derived-fuels (RdF) has an estimated cost of production of about 110€/t for a new WtM 300t/d plant. With respect to waste-to-energy (WtE) approach, this solution allows various advantages.