An experimental and kinetic modeling study on the Ni-catalyzed conversion of methane under oxidative and reforming conditions is presented. The numerical model is based on a surface reaction mechanism consisting of 52 elementary-step like reactions with 14 surface and six gas-phase species. Reactions for the conversion of methane with oxygen, steam, and CO2 as well as methanation, water-gas shift reaction and carbon formation via Boudouard reaction are included. The mechanism is implemented in a one-dimensional flow field description of a fixed bed reactor. The model is evaluated by comparison of numerical simulations with data derived from isothermal experiments in a flow reactor over a powdered nickel-based catalyst using varying inlet gas compositions and operating temperatures. Furthermore, the influence of hydrogen and water as co-feed on methane dry reforming with CO2 is also investigated.

A detailed multi-step reaction mechanism is developed for modeling steam reforming of methane over nickel-based catalysts. The mechanism also includes partial and total oxidation reactions, water-gas shift reactions, formation of carbon monolayers, and methanation reactions. A method is presented for ensuring thermodynamic consistency in the development of surface reaction mechanisms. The applicability of the mechanism is tested by simulating experimental investigations of SR of methane on a Ni-coated monolithic cordierite catalyst as well as experimental studies from literature. The reactive flow in the channels of the experimentally used monolithic structures is modeled by a two-dimensional flow field analysis of a single monolith channel coupled with the reaction mechanism developed. The gas composition and surface coverage with adsorbed species are calculated as function of the position in the channel. The model developed is able to properly describe steam reforming of methane over the nickel catalysts for wide ranges of temperature and steam/ methane ratio.

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The initiation of the methanol-to-olefins (MTO) process is investigated using a multiscale modeling approach where more than 100 ab initio computed (MP2:DFT) rate constants for H-SSZ-13 are used in a batch reactor model. The investigated reaction network includes the mechanism for initiation (42 steps) and a representative part of the autocatalytic olefin cycle (63 steps). The simulations unravel the dominant initiation pathway for H-SSZ-13: dehydrogenation of methanol to CO is followed by CO-methylation leading to the formation of the first C–C bond in methyl acetate despite high barriers of >200 kJ/mol. Our multiscale approach is able to shed light on the reaction sequence that ultimately leads to olefin formation and strikingly demonstrates that only with a full reactor model that includes autocatalysis with olefins as cocatalysts is one able to understand the initiation mechanism on the atomic scale. Importantly, the model also shows that autocatalysis takes over long before significant amounts of olefins are formed, thus guiding the interpretation of experimental results.