Simulation of Steam Methane Reforming in a Membrane Reactor with a Nickel Catalyst and a Palladium Alloy Foil

Abstract

A model of steam methane reforming in a catalytic reactor has been developed the working part of which is two cylindrical chambers separated by a membranous wall. The upper chamber is evacuated while the lower one is maintained at atmospheric pressure. With a uniform supply of raw materials along the outer perimeter of the lower chamber, the problem is reduced to finding the average flows of CH 4 , H 2 O, CO 2 , CO, and H 2 from the solution of a system of five nonlinear ordinary differential equations of the first order. The calculations were carried out for a Pd-6% Ru membrane in the temperature range of 673 K < T < 973 K at a steam/methane inlet flow ratio of 3 and a feed rate of 1800-9600 L/h. As a result of comparing the calculations with experimental data, a theoretical substantiation of the main regularities of the process observed in practice was obtained.