Membrane reactors - as promising technology for pursuing the Process Intensification Strategy in various chemical processes - were reviewed in the field of steam reforming of methane and liquid hydrocarbons for sustainable hydrogen production. A summary of the advantages and disadvantages of each considered process was presented. Drawbacks and current issues of the traditional reactors in fuel processing processes, which can be overcome using membrane reactors, were also described.

In particular, steam reforming processes are the major hydrogen production methods; therefore, in this review the effects of different operating parameters, such as reaction temperature, pressure, feed composition, reactor configuration, feed and sweep gas flow rates were analyzed and discussed in terms of methane conversion, hydrogen recovery, hydrogen yield and CO selectivity. A deep discussion was proposed about the effects of the hydrogen removal from reaction zone (the so called “shift effect”) toward the permeation zone in the membrane reactors, highlighting the benefits of their adoption over the traditional reactors.

膜反应器是在各种化学过程中追求过程强化策略的有前途的技术，它在甲烷和液态烃的蒸汽重整领域中进行了回顾，以实现可持续的制氢。总结了所考虑的每个过程的优缺点。还描述了燃料处理过程中传统反应堆的缺点和当前问题，这些问题和使用膜反应堆可以克服的问题。

尤其是，蒸汽重整工艺是主要的制氢方法。因此，在本综述中，根据甲烷转化率，氢气回收率，氢气产率和一氧化碳选择性，分析和讨论了不同操作参数（如反应温度，压力，进料组成，反应器配置，进料和吹扫气流速）的影响并进行了讨论。提出了关于膜反应器中氢从反应区移向渗透区的影响（所谓的“转移效应”）的深入讨论，强调了采用氢比传统反应器的优势。