4.7 Article

Optimal design of a sleeve-type steam methane reforming reactor for hydrogen production from natural gas

Journal

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY
Volume 44, Issue 3, Pages 1973-1987

Publisher

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.11.188

Keywords

Hydrogen production; Natural gas; Steam methane reforming (SMR); Sleeve gap size; Flame shape; Computational fluid dynamics (CFD)

Funding

  1. Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) - Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning [NRF-2016R1A2B4010423]

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The three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was used in a sleeve type steam methane reforming (SMR) reactor for H-2 production of 2.5 Nm(3)/h from natural gas. The feed and combustion gases acted as a counter-current heat exchange owing to a narrow sleeve equipped between the combustor and catalyst-bed. The CFD results were validated against the experimental data of the SMR reactor with a sleeve gap size of 3 mm. The effect of the sleeve gap size and the flame shape on process performances such as H-2 production rate, thermal efficiency, and uniformity of catalyst-bed temperature was investigated using the CFD model. The sleeve gap size influenced the gas velocity inside the sleeve gap and the convective heat transfer. The SMR reactor with a sleeve gap size of 7 mm showed the highest H-2 production rate and thermal efficiency when comparing six sleeve gap sizes ranging from 2 to 10 mm. A new flame shape for the SMR reactor with the sleeve gap size of 7 mm was proposed to improve the process performances. (C) 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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