Partial oxidation of ethanol was performed in a dense Pd-Ag membrane reactor over Rh/Al(2)O(3) catalyst in order to produce a pure or at least CO(x) free hydrogen stream for supplying a PEM fuel cell The membrane reactor performances have been evaluated in terms of ethanol conversion hydrogen yield, CO(x) free hydrogen recovery and gas selectivity working at 450 degrees C GHSV similar to 1300 h(-1) O(2) C(2)H(5)OH feed molar ratio varying between 0 33 1 and 0 62 1 and in a reaction pressure range from 1 0 to 3 0 bar As a result complete ethanol conversion was achieved in all the experimental tests A small amount of C(2)H(4) and C(2)H(4)O formation was observed during reaction At low pressure and feed molar ratio H(2) and CO are mainly produced, while at stronger operating conditions CH(4) CO(2) and H(2)O are prevalent compounds However, in all the experimental tests no carbon formation was detected As best results of this work complete ethanol conversion and more than 40 0% CO(x) free hydrogen recovery were achieved Furthermore at 450 degrees C ambient pressure and stoichiometric feed molar ratio partial oxidation of ethanol was performed in the Pd-Ag membrane reactor as a case study without using any catalyst In this case Pd-Ag membrane acts as a catalyst on the reac tion As a result an ethanol conversion around 85% was reached while low CO(x) free hydrogen recovery and carbon formation was the main drawback (C) 2010 Professor T Nejat Veziroglu Published by Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved