In a continuing effort to realize the simultaneous hydrogen and methanol production via the auto-thermal methanol synthesis process, the effect of two different hydrogen redistribution strategies along a double-membrane reactor has been considered. A steady-state one-dimensional heterogeneous model was developed to compare two strategies applied in the operation of the auto-thermal methanol synthesis. It was found that the counter-current configuration exhibited the better performance compared to the reactor operated in the co-current mode from both the economic and environmental points of view. This superiority is ascribed to the establishment of a more favourable temperature profi le along the reactor and also more hydrogen extraction from the reaction zone. Moreover, the influence of some operating variables was investigated on the performance of the auto-thermal double-membrane reactor in the counter-current confi guration. The results suggest that utilizing this confi guration for pure hydrogen and methanol production could be feasible and beneficial.
