Sharif Digital Repository

Catalyst layers are one of the most important parts of the PEM fuel cells and the cell performance is highly related to its structure. Catalyst layers are generally made by uniform distribution of catalyst on carbon cloth or carbon papers to form electrodes. In this paper, the idea of using non-uniform catalyst layer instead of common uniform catalyst layers is presented and simulated by a two-dimensional steady-state computational model. The model accounts for species transport, electrochemical kinetics, charge transport and current density distribution. A fuel cell test stand is designed and built to facilitate experimental validation of the model. Modeling results show that electrical... 

In this paper, an axial dispersion mathematical model is developed to simulate a three-phase slurry bubble column reactor for direct synthesis of dimethyl ether (DME) from syngas. This large-scale reactor is modeled using mass and energy balances, catalyst sedimentation and single-bubble as well as two-bubbles class flow hydrodynamics. A comparison between the two hydrodynamic models through pilot plant experimental data from the literature shows that heterogeneous two-bubbles flow model is in better agreement with the experimental data than homogeneous single-bubble gas flow model. Also, by investigating the heterogeneous gas flow and axial dispersion model for small bubbles as well as the...