Membrane Reactors for Hydrogen Recovery from Chemical Carriers: Recent Advances and Future Perspectives

Hydrogen is expected to play a key role in the transition towards sustainable energy systems, although its storage and transportation remain major barriers to its widespread deployment. Chemical hydrogen carriers, including methanol, liquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHCs) and ammonia, represent promising solutions because they enable hydrogen storage and transport under practical conditions using current infrastructure. For hydrogen recovery from these chemicals, membrane reactors provide an attractive process-intensification strategy by integrating catalytic reactions and hydrogen separation within a single unit. This configuration enhances hydrogen recovery, shifts the thermodynamic equilibrium towards higher conversions and simultaneously delivers high-purity fuel-cell-grade hydrogen while reducing downstream purification requirements. In this context, the present review critically discusses the current state of the art in membrane reactor technology for hydrogen recovery from the most relevant chemical hydrogen carriers. In this context, catalytic systems, membrane configurations and reactor performance are compared across the most promising carrier alternatives. Finally, the main technological challenges and future opportunities for the industrial implementation of these systems are identified.