Catalytic properties of a pure Ni coil catalyst for methane steam reforming

A tightly rolled pure Ni coil catalyst was assembled to ensure a stable catalytic performance in a wide range of conditions for methane steam reforming. With a high geometric specific surface area of 88.1 cm(2)/cm(3), the coil catalyst achieved the objective of this study in the range of the space velocity (455-2800 h(-1)), steam-to-carbon ratio (0.62-2.48), and temperature (973-1073 K), which was hard to achieve on our previously developed Ni honeycomb catalyst with a geometric specific surface area of 59.4 cm(2)/cm(3). Methane steam reforming reaction was slightly accelerated by the reactant flow because of the mass transfer enhancement of H-2, CO, and CO2. The conversion, selectivity, and yield of the products were evaluated as a function of the conditions mentioned above. The high H-2 production rate per unit catalyst volume demonstrated the high potential of the Ni coil catalyst for applications to small-scale hydrogen production system. (C) 2017 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.