KU has Developed a Next-Generation High-Efficiency Membrane Reactor

with Improved Performance and Safety for Hydrogen Energy Storage and Transport

▲ (From left) Professor Choi Jung-kyu (corresponding author), Kim Se-jin (first author, student in integrated master-doctoral degree programs), Lee Seung-mi (first author, student in integrated master-doctoral degree programs), and Sung Su-hyeon (first author, master’s student).

KU (President Kim Dong-one) has developed a next-generation membrane reactor capable of efficiently storing and transporting hydrogen, a core energy source of the future.

Hydrogen is drawing much attention as an eco-friendly form of energy, but its properties make it difficult to store and transport safely. To solve this problem, various liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHC) are being studied, and methylcyclohexane (MCH) is typically used in this process. However, MCH must be subjected to high-temperature treatment in order to obtain a high conversion rate in the process of extracting hydrogen (dehydrogenation reaction), which may result in the deactivation of the catalysts and the generation of by-products.

*Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier (LOHC): A technology employed to store and transport hydrogen using organic compounds that exist in a liquid state at room temperature and pressure. This LOHC process includes the storage and extraction of hydrogen through the reversible hydrogenation and dehydrogenation of organic compounds, and based on this, hydrogen may be safely transported in a liquid state.
*Methylcyclohexane (MCH): MCH, a compound composed of carbon and hydrogen, is one of the representative LOHC candidates because it has properties such as low toxicity, high hydrogen content, and a relatively low boiling point.

Professor Choi Jung-kyu’s group in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at KU has developed a high-performance membrane reactor capable of simultaneously conducting dehydrogenation and hydrogen separation, and has achieved a high conversion rate at a temperature lower than that required by the conventional technology, thereby increasing the efficiency and safety of dehydrogenation.

The research group successfully developed a high-performance membrane reactor using a zeolite membrane with a high level of hydrogen selectivity, which is produced through the existing 'hybrid zeolite membrane’ technology, and a platinum (Pt)-based catalyst used in the actual dehydrogenation processes. This reactor has achieved a level of performance that is sufficiently high for it to be used in actual industrial settings.

*Zeolite: Zeolite is an inorganic crystalline material in which aluminum is used as a substitute for some of the silicon atoms in silicon oxide, and is a material with pores smaller than 1 nm. More than 200 independent structures of zeolite have been reported, all dependent on their unique crystal structures, which are indicated by a three-letter code [e.g. MFI (Zeolite Socony Mobil-five), CHA (Chabazite), DDR (Deca-dodecasil 3 Rhombohedral), and LTA (Linde Type A), etc.]. Zeolites are widely used in various fields in the form of ion exchangers, water purification filters, catalysts and catalyst carriers, adsorbents, and membranes.

Professor Choi, the corresponding author of the article, said, “Our technology can be applied to various high-temperature reaction processes, in addition to MCH. The significance of our results is that the newly developed membrane reactor can be applied to actual high-temperature processes.”

The results of this study were published on June 13 (Thu) in Advanced Science (IF:15.1), a renowned international journal in the fields of nanoscience, chemistry, and material science. The study was supported by the Next-Generation Promising Seed Technology Commercialization Fast Track Program through the National Research Foundation.

* Title of article: Zeolite Membrane-Based Low-Temperature Dehydrogenation of a Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carrier: A Key Step in the Development of a Hydrogen Economy
* Article DOI link: https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202403128

* Professor Choi’s official website: http://imsr.korea.ac.kr

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[Description of Figure 1] Schematic illustration of LOHC process.

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