Design and simulation of a novel reactor for the H₂ storage mechanism in methylcyclohexane

Abstract

The present study addresses the modeling and simulation of an intensified dehydrogenation reactor-heat exchanger system designed for a H2-based 2.0 MW mobile power plant. The reactor consisted of a multiple triple-tube system where the catalyst was packed in the middle tube while hot exhaust gases passed through the innermost and outermost tubes. A basecase design was defined and the reactor was simulated using the rigorous kinetics developed elsewhere for the MCH dehydrogenation. The parabolic differential equations of mass and heat energy were solved and the axial and radial conversion and temperature profiles were computed. Moreover, the effects of the number of longitudinal fins on the reactor tubes as well as the flow direction were also studied. With 12 number of fins on the reactor tube, the MCH conversion increased from 70.8% to 81.8%, with a corresponding increase in the average bed temperature from 569.3 K to 577.6 K and hydrogen yield from 37.05 kmol/h to 42.79 kmol/h.