Preparation of palladium membrane by electroplating on AISI 316L porous stainless steel supports and its use for methanol steam reformer

A novel electroplating method of preparing Pd-membrane on an AISI 316L porous stainless steel support is successfully developed by proper control of rotation speed of the support. The use of low-current density with high-rotation speed enables us to avoid hydrogen absorption during electroplating and to prepare smooth thin surfaced membrane with defect free. The electroplated-Pd-membrane shows well property in the hydrogen permeation, flux and excellent permselectivity (H2/He > 100,000), and is used in a membrane-assisted steam reformer of methanol for the production of high-purity hydrogen. It was also found that the membrane spontaneously exhibited to resist hydrogen embrittlement under the phase-transition temperature of 280 °C, when operated in the temperature range of 250–350 °C under the hydrogen pressure of 9 kgf/cm2.