Optimization of the Ni/Al2O3 and Pt/Al2O3 Catalysts Load in Autothermal Steam Methane Reforming

Abstract

In this paper we analyzed an autothermal reformer for the hydrogen production from methane and vapor. The endothermic reforming reaction was heated with the exothermic reaction of methane combustion inside a rectangular reactor. The reforming reaction was activated with nickel (Ni) catalyst layer that coated on one wall of the reactor, while the second wall was coated with platinum (Pt) catalyst in order to activate the combustion reaction. The quantity of the catalysts used for each reaction has an important effect on the process. A low quantity of the catalysts can decrease the hydrogen yield, on the other hand, additional quantity can increase reactor conception costs. So that, the optimization of the process to find out an adequate quantity of catalysts is required to improve the process [1]. The Ni catalyst thickness was varied from 1 × 10 −4 m to 4 × 10 −4 m while the variation of the Pt catalyst was between 5 × 10 −6 m and 4 × 10 −5 m. The results showed that the hydrogen yield achieved an optimum value of 36.295% was obtained when the catalyst was operated under a catalyst thickness of 2 × 10 −4 m for the Ni catalyst, while, the thickness of the Pt catalyst was of 2 × 10 −5 m. the maximum temperature.

Design and multiobjective optimization of membrane steam methane reformer: A computational fluid dynamic analysis

“…Thus, the membrane helps to decentralize the system by reducing the number of separation modules and affords fast response times. Similarly, the autothermal reforming (ATR) of steam and methane helps in reducing the heating modules 13‐18 . Both membrane and ATR concepts can be incorporated into the same reactor configuration for further decentralization 19,20 .…”

“…Similarly, the autothermal reforming (ATR) of steam and methane helps in reducing the heating modules. [13][14][15][16][17][18] Both membrane and ATR concepts can be incorporated into the same reactor configuration for further decentralization. 19,20 Furthermore, hydrogen separation using only the membrane is possible, where the use of an additional unit is circumvented by injecting the remaining unseparated hydrogen for combustion in the ATR reactor.…”

Numerical analysis of steam methane reforming over a novel multi‐concentric rings Ni/ Al 2 O 3 catalyst pattern

“…Therefore, a huge amount of research has been devoted to this technique. However, the SMR process requires a sustained heat supply to operate 30 ; hence, the combination of the SMR with an exothermic reaction in the autothermal reforming (ATR) process is an interesting way to provide the process with the required heat 26,31‐34 . This can also facilitate the decentralization of the SMR reaction and methane combustion stages of the hydrogen production process, thus leading to less fuel consumption 35‐38 .…”