Methane Dry Reforming at High Temperature and Elevated Pressure: Impact of Gas-Phase Reactions

Catalytic dry reforming over a platinum-based catalyst is described experimentally and numerically in a laboratory pilot-plant flow reactor. The results reveal that coking in the upper part of the catalyst bed and at the entrance of the reactor occurs, depending on the composition of the reaction mixture and the respective temperature. To a significant extent, gas-phase reactions play a role as being the cause for the observed coking behavior in the reforming of methane in the presence of carbon dioxide at high temperatures of 1123-1273 K and at 20 bar. Hydrogen addition can inhibit coke formation better than water addition. The reactor is modeled by a one-dimensional description of the reacting field using elementary-step reaction mechanisms of up to 4238 gas-phase reactions among 1034 species and 58 heterogeneous reactions among 8 gas-phase species and 14 surface-adsorbed species. The study leads an optimized positioning of the catalyst in a technical reformer tube.