Sequential simulation of a fluidized bed membrane reactor for the steam methane reforming using ASPEN PLUS

A simulation model is developed using ASPEN PLUS to predict the performance of a fluidized bed membrane reformer. Because there are physical and chemical phenomena interacting in the fluidized bed membrane reformer, two submodels seem necessary in the model. These submodels are the hydrodynamic and reaction submodels. The hydrodynamic submodel is based on the dynamic two-phase model, and the reaction submodel is derived from the literature. The reformer is divided into two regions: a dense bed and freeboard. The dense bed is divided into several sections. At each section, the flow of the gas is considered as the plug flow through the membrane and bubble phases and perfectly mixed through the emulsion phase. The sets of the experimental data were used from the literature to validate the model. Close agreement was observed between the model predictions and experimental data. This model can be used for the simulation of nonideal fluidized bed membrane reactors inside the ASPEN PLUS process simulator.