Patent ID: 7087211

Claim:
A device for separating water into hydrogen and oxygen and reacting oxygen with methane to form syngas, comprising a first substantially gas impervious solid electron-conducting membrane for selectively passing hydrogen, a second substantially gas impervious solid electron-conducting membrane for selectively passing oxygen, said first and said second membranes being positioned to form a reaction chamber therebetween, mechanism for passing steam at dissociation temperature into said reaction chamber such that hydrogen from the dissociation of steam selectively and continuously passes through said first substantially gas impervious solid electron-conducting membrane and oxygen from the dissociation of steam selectively and continuously passes through said second substantially gas impervious solid electron-conducting membrane thereby continuously driving the dissociation of steam producing hydrogen and oxygen, and mechanism for passing methane into said reaction chamber in the presence of oxygen thereby continuously producing a syngas of carbon monoxide and hydrogen from the reaction of oxygen and methane.