An effective coupling for coproducing aromatics and CO-free hydrogen in a catalytic membrane reactor

Methane dehydroaromatization (MDA) using Mo/zeolite catalysts is a promising technology that enables the direct conversion of methane into valuable aromatics and hydrogen. However, non-oxidative MDA suffers two main obstacles: thermodynamic limitations and rapid catalyst deactivation. Additionally, oxidative MDA often undergoes undesired oxidation to CO, reducing product selectivity and hindering efficient H₂ separation. We present an effective coupling strategy to coproduce aromatics and CO-free H₂ by integrating water splitting into a catalytic membrane reactor (CMR). Compared with the fixed-bed reactor (FBR), our CMR not only reduces coke formation by five times and increases aromatic yield over 10-fold after 1000 min, but also obtains CO-free H₂ on the water side. Further, a novel regeneration method is demonstrated by water splitting coupled with simply shutting off CH₄, transforming the coke into valuable CO-free H₂ and CO on both sides of our CMR, respectively, and enhancing the techno-economic viability of the MDA process.