Patent ID: 11912575
Assignee: GEORGIA TECH RESEARCH CORPORATION
Field: Materials, metallurgy (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC C | IPC C

Claim 0:
1. A variable volume reactor, comprising:
a reactor chamber adapted to receive a fuel and a gas in a free volume of the reactor chamber;
a structure disposed within the reactor chamber, the structure comprising a catalyst selected to assist a reaction of the fuel and the gas and one or more H2 permeable membrane structures, each H2 permeable membrane structure formed as a hollow tube; and
an active piston movable within the reactor chamber that changes the free volume of the reactor chamber, the free volume being the space between the active piston and the structure, the active piston comprising a sorbent material selected to achieve CO2 adsorption;
wherein the variable volume reactor is configured so that products, CO2 and H2, are formed due to the reaction of the fuel, wherein the CO2 is adsorbed by the sorbent material, and the H2 permeates through the H2 permeable membrane to outside the variable volume reactor, and wherein the active piston is moveable within the reactor chamber such that:
a first movement of the active piston decreases the free volume and increases H2 partial pressure in the free volume, which causes an increase of the rate of reaction and hydrogen permeation through H2 membrane, and
a second movement of the active piston increases the free volume and decreases the partial pressure of CO2 in the variable volume reactor, which causes the CO2 to desorb from the sorbent material, and
a third movement of the active piston decreases the free volume to remove the CO2 out of the variable volume reactor using an open exhaust valve.