Numerical study of hydrogen production by the sorption-enhanced steam methane reforming process with online CO2 capture as operated in fluidized bed reactors

Abstract

A three-dimensional (3D) Eulerian two-fluid model with an in-house code was developed to simulate the gas-particle two-phase flow in the fluidized bed reactors. The CO 2 capture with Ca-based sorbents in the steam methane reforming (SMR) process was studied with such model combined with the reaction kinetics. The sorptionenhanced steam methane reforming (SE-SMR) process, i.e., the integration of the process of SMR and the adsorption of CO 2 , was carried out in a bubbling fluidized bed reactor. The very high production of hydrogen in SE-SMR was obtained compared with the standard SMR process. The hydrogen molar fraction in gas phase was near the equilibrium. The breakthrough of the sorbent and the variation of the composition in the breakthrough period were studied. The effects of inlet gas superficial velocity and steam-to-carbon ratio (mass ratio of steam to methane in the inlet gas phase) on the reactions were studied. The simulated results are in agreement with the experimental results presented by Johnsen et al. (2006a, Chem Eng Sci 61:1195-1202.

Numerical evaluation of a one‐dimensional two‐fluid model applied to gas–solid cold‐flows in fluidised beds

“…More difficult problems arise in the case of additional heat and mass transfer between particles and fluid, possibly with simultaneous occurrence of chemical reactions. However, considering the SE‐SMR process, the chemical performance predicted by Wang et al., Chao et al., Wang et al . and Chao is of minor difference applying a two‐dimensional or three‐dimensional model approach.…”

Clean fuel technologies and clean and reliable energy: a summary

“…Another approach to hydrogen production is discussed in Numerical study of hydrogen production by the sorptionenhanced steam methane reforming process with online CO 2 capture as operated in fluidized bed reactors, by Yuefa Wang, Zhongxi Chao and Hugo A. Jakobsen (Wang et al 2011) from Norwegian University of Science and Technology-NTNU, Trondheim, Norway. The authors developed a three dimensional Eulerian two-fluid model with in-house code to simulate the gas particle two phase flow in fluidized bed reactors.…”

Environmentally friendly catalytic combustion of gaseous fuel to heat greenhouses

“…Conversion of CH 4 to more expensive fuels, useful chemicals, and heat have been proposed to convert it into hydrogen-rich gases on Ca-based sorbents (Wang et al 2011) and Ni-containing catalyst in membrane reactor (Kyriakides et al 2013) or flow reactor (Corbo et al 2009), olefins (Patcharavorachot et al 2014), liquefaction processing (Yoon et al 2012), methanol (Mendes et al 2014), and products of catalytic combustion (Buchneva et al 2009). Flameless catalytic combustion of natural and oil gases without formation of nitrogen oxides is one of the most promising ways for utilization of CH 4 and other alkanes to produce heat and CO 2 (Bhavsar et al 2014).…”