A comparative computational study of diesel steam reforming in a catalytic plate heat‐exchange reactor. Issue 3 (2nd August 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Mundhwa, Mayur; Thurgood, Christopher P.; Dhingra, Harsh; Parmar, Rajesh D.; Peppley, Brant A.
• Is Part Of: AIChE journal. Volume 63:Issue 3(2017)
• Page Start: 1102
• Page End: 1113
• Publication Date: 2016-08-02
• Subjects: catalytic plate reactor -- steam reforming -- CFD -- simulation -- SOFC; Chemical engineering -- Periodicals; Génie chimique -- Périodiques; 660.28
• DOI: 10.1002/aic.15391
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0001-1541

Abstract

Abstract : A two‐dimensional steady‐state model of a catalytic plate reactor for diesel steam reforming is developed. Heat is provided indirectly to endothermic reforming sites by flue gas from a SOFC tail‐gas burner. Two experimentally validated kinetic models on diesel reforming on platinum (Pt) catalyst were implemented for a comparative study; the model of Parmar et al., Fuel. 2010;89(6):1212–1220 for a Pt/Al2 O3 and the model of Shi et al., International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. 2009;34(18):7666–7675 for a Pt/Gd‐CeO2 (GDC). The kinetic models were compared for: species concentration, approach to equilibrium, gas hourly space velocity and effectiveness factor. Cocurrent flow arrangement between the reforming and the flue gas channels showed better heat transfer compared to counter‐current flow arrangement. The comparison between the two kinetic models showed that different supports play significant role in the final design of a reactor. The study also determined that initial 20% of the plate reactor has high diffusion limitation suggesting to use graded catalyst to optimize the plate reactor performance. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 63: 1102–1113, 2017