Numerical study on micro-reformer performance and local transport phenomena of the plate methanol steam micro-reformer

Effects of structural parameters on the performance of a micro-reactor with micro-pin-fin arrays (MPFAR) for hydrogen production

“…The temperature distribution in the micro-channel reactor coated by catalysts presented in Ref. [15] revealed that the temperature in the micro-reactor increases rapidly at the entrance of the micro-channel, and attains the wall temperature value when the x coordinate is about 10% of the total micro-channel length. This means that the temperature difference in the thin catalyst layer can be neglected within the available error range.…”

“…In addition, the aforementioned authors also found that the higher methanol conversion rate can be obtained with internal heating, as well as CO molar concentration. Hsueh et al [15] have used a three-dimensional model to study the effect of geometrical structure and thermo-fluid parameters on the methanol conversion rate and efficiency of the microchannel reformers. Their simulated results revealed that a low aspect-ratio micro-channel can enhance the performance of the micro-reformer.…”

A review of recent advances in numerical simulations of microscale fuel processor for hydrogen production

“…A smaller micro channel size would make the temperature distribution more even, thereby increasing the methanol conversion. And finally, methanol conversion would decrease with increased Reynolds number [41]. Finally, in 2010, this group published a third study on plate type micro reactors [43].…”

“…In 2009, a group out of Hufan University and National Chiao Tung University published two papers on numerical studies on plate type microreformers [40,41]. They used standard continuity and momentum equations from the Fluent software programs.…”

“…Ensuring even flow distribution in multi-channel designs is difficult, especially in designs with catlayst coating walls since, it is difficult to ensure even wall coating of the catalyst. The same group published a second paper in 2009 [41] which varied the height and width ratio as well as Reynolds numbers to understand their impacts on methanol conversion and gas transport.…”