A novel approach for kinetic measurements in exothermic fixed bed reactors: advancements in non-isothermal bed conditions demonstrated for methanol synthesis

Abstract

A novel approach for the investigation of reaction kinetics using a polytropic miniplant reactor featuring a highly resolved fibre optic temperature measurement and FTIR gas phase analysis is presented for methanol synthesis.

Experimental Validation of Methanol Synthesis from Steel Mill Gases Using a Miniplant Setup

“…Thiele modulus was proven by Lommerts et al to deliver a good description of the diffusion limitation in methanol synthesis. Thus, this approach was applied throughout this work 4, 29, 30.…”

“…Methanol synthesis from carbon dioxide (CO 2 )‐rich gas streams and electrolytically generated hydrogen (H 2 ) in the context of so‐called Power‐to‐X processes has become a dynamic field of research in the last three decades, as this technology has the potential to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in both industry and fuel sector 1–3. Scientific activities are recently focusing on the description of reaction kinetics for synthesis gases (syngases) with high CO 2 contents 4–6, the development of novel catalysts promising higher activities and slower degradation 7–9 as well as the economic assessment of Power‐to‐Methanol processes 10–13. On commercial catalysts, methanol synthesis is described by the following two primary reactions: …”

Recent Progress in Direct DME Synthesis and Potential of Bifunctional Catalysts

“…CO 2 conversion [156,158,159]. Different modeling approaches have been used to model the direct DME synthesis, the coupling of methanol formation models [106,107,110] and its dehydration [160,161] is one of the first approaches used, however, in the last years, lumped kinetic models based on prior knowledge on the direct CO/CO 2 conversion to DME are being developed [157,158,162]. These simplified models suffer from difficulties associated to possible model shortcomings caused by assumptions and uncertainties of the mathematical description, especially outside the fitted operation conditions.…”

“…A full elucidation of the mechanism would allow for precise optimization of input parameters and reaction conditions, further improving the process efficiency and economic feasibility [105]. Several formal kinetic models have been proposed for the methanol synthesis [106][107][108][109][110]. Each model has its particular considerations and rate determining steps (RDS), as well as different parameters lumped and fitted to experimental data at different conditions.…”

Operation Analysis of a Flexible Solid Oxide Cell Module for Power to Hydrogen and Polygeneration

“…Continuous optimization of the miniplant operation was achieved using a process model in MATLAB Simulink. A kinetic model [2] suited for feed gases with high carbon dioxide content was successfully validated against the miniplant data. The process model was then used to iteratively optimize the plant's key performance indicators, such as weight-timeyield and hydrogen conversion.…”