Sharif Digital Repository

The catalyst's performance and deactivation in a Midrex® industrial fixed bed reactor were investigated for the combined steam and dry reforming of natural gas using a one-dimensional heterogeneous model. The results demonstrate that there is a strong tendency for the catalyst's deactivation by carbon formation originating from methane decomposition. However, kinetic modelling of the combined reforming process shows that only a fraction of the catalyst in the industrial reactor is required for the reactions to reach an equilibrium state in the reformer. Hence, as the catalyst is deactivated at the reactor entrance area, the reaction zone gradually moves forward and still allows for... 

In this paper, a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) fuel cell power system including burner, steam reformer, heat exchanger, and water heater has been considered. A PEM fuel cell system is designed to meet the electrical, domestic hot water, heating, and cooling loads of a residential building located in Tehran. Operating conditions of the system with consideration of the electricity cost has been studied. The cost includes social cost of the environmental pollutants (e.g. CO 2, CO and NO). The results show that the maximum energy needs of the building can be met by 12 fuel cell stacks with nominal capacity of 8.5 kW. Annual average electricity cost of thissystem is equal to 0.39 US$/kWh and... 

A compartment model was developed to describe the flow pattern of gas within the dense zone of a tapered membrane-assisted fluidized-bed reactor (TMAFBR), in the bubbling mode of operation for steam reforming of methane under wall heat flux. The parameters of the developed model (i.e., number of compartments for the bubble and emulsion phases) were determined using the experimental data reported elsewhere [Adris AM, Lim CJ, Grace JR. The fluidized bed membrane reactor system: a pilot scale experimental study. Chem Eng Sci 1994; 49:5833-43.] and good agreements were obtained between model predictions and corresponding experimental data. The developed model was then utilized to predict the... 

In this work, an exergy analysis is performed for the waste heat recovery section (WHRS) of the steam-natural gas reforming (SNGR) process as a major energy intensive process. Two alternate conditions are investigated to evaluate the required thermodynamic parameters: normal operating condition and increase of C2+ components in the process feed stream. At normal operating condition, the exergy efficiency of WHRS amounts to 0.58 while some 17.2 kJ energy is destructed for each mole of H2 produced. If heavier than methane components are increased in the feed up to 8.5 mole %, despite the increase of H2 production, the exergy efficiency decreases down to 0.54... 

The present study aims to analyze a combined heat and power (CHP) system with an approach towards exergy analysis and employing biomass gasification. The cycle modeling was carried out using Cycle-Tempo and the main purpose was to achieve parametric analysis of the model. The systems function was studied by categorizing alternative biomass fuels, also qualitative and quantitative analyses of the biomass fuel samples were presented and considering the trade-off points, most appropriate biomass fuel with respect to exergy efficiency and delivered power were determined. The results indicated that the bagasse and wood chips had the total exergy efficiency of 54.5 and 57.1% in trade-off point,... 

In order to achieve the international climate goals and to keep the global temperature increase below 2 °C, carbon capture and storage in large point sources of CO2 emissions has received considerable attention. In recent years, mitigation of CO2 emissions from the power sector has been studied extensively whereas other industrial point source emitters such as hydrogen industry have also great potential for CO2 abatement. This study aims to draw an updated comparison between different hydrogen and power cogeneration systems using natural gas and coal as feedstock. The goal is to show the relative advantage of cogeneration systems with respect to CO2 emission reduction costs. Accordingly, the... 

A catalytic membrane reactor was synthesized by coating a 4-5 micron thick Ni/γ-Al2O3 layer on top of a hydrogen selective SiO2/Al2O3 composite membrane using a sol-gel method. Mercury intrusion and BET analysis indicated a uniform size distribution with an average pore size of 285 nm and average surface area of 279 m2 g-1. Single-component permeation tests were carried out for H2, CH4 and CO2 in the temperature range of 650-800 °C and the results showed the same permeance and selectivity values for hydrogen as the composite membrane without a catalytic layer. Performance of the catalytic membrane was evaluated by using as a membrane reactor for the methane steam reforming reaction with a... 

Membrane reactors are an advanced technology with vast application capacities for equilibrium limited endothermic reactions. The main propose of this study is to offer an optimized packed-bed membrane steam methane reforming (SMR) tubular reactor for sustainable CH4 conversion by implementing triple-objective optimization model based on optimum H2/CO ratio for low temperature Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) process. In this study a one dimensional pseudo-homogeneous model based on mass, energy, and momentum conservation laws is used to simulate the behavior of a packed-bed membrane reactor for production of syngas by SMR. In the optimization section, the proposed work explores optimal values of... 

Auto-thermal reforming (ATR), a combination of exothermic partial oxidation and endothermic steam reforming of methane, is an important process to produce syngas for petrochemical industries. In a commercial ATR unit, tubular fixed bed reactors are typically used. Pressure drop across the tube, high manufacturing costs, and low production capacity are some disadvantages of these reactors. The main propose of this study is to offer an optimized radial flow, spherical packed bed reactor as a promising alternative for overcoming the drawbacks of conventional tubular reactors. In the current research, a one dimensional pseudo-homogeneous model based on mass, energy, and momentum balances is... 

The steam reforming of ethylene glycol, a simple model compound for biomass-derived liquids, is considered to be an environmentally green process for producing renewable hydrogen. Both Pt and Ni species are known for their catalytic activity under steam reforming reaction conditions. In this investigation, alumina supported Ni-Pt bimetallic catalysts (X wt% Ni-Y wt% Pt/Al2O3 named XNi-YPt) were employed for steam reforming of ethylene glycol. The prepared catalysts were characterized by XRD, BET, H2-TPR, H₂-Chemisorption, and TEM. It was observed that Ni/Pt ratio strongly affected the redox behavior, BET surface area, and particle size of the samples that in turn affected their catalytic... 

This work proposes a novel configuration for steam methane reformers (SMR) in order to improve their syngas stoichiometric ratio (SR). This is a decisive element for methanol producers to increase their production tonnage. While the optimum theoretical SR value is around 2, many conventional SMRs operate far beyond this value due to thermodynamic equilibrium limitations. In the new SMR design CO2, which could be an industrial off gas, is injected into the reactor in multiple stages. The corresponding CO2 injection flow rate is determined by a multi-objective optimization method. The optimum flow rate at each stage is chosen to minimise abs (SR-2) while maintaining the CH4 conversion at its... 

Supportless Ni-Pd-0.1CNT foamy nanocatalyst with specific surface area of 611.3 m2/g was produced by electroless deposition of nickel, palladium and multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) on interim polyurethane substrate. Application of temperature programmed reduction (TPR) and temperature programmed oxidation (TPO) data into Kissinger (Redhead) kinetic model showed lessening of their activation energies due to Pd and CNT addition. Presence of foamy Ni/SiC caused 8% higher steam reforming of methane; while Ni-Pd-0.1CNT presence resulted in 22% higher methane conversion. The catalytic behavior of the samples was described by morphological and compositional studies which were carried out by... 

A compartment model was developed to describe the flow pattern of gas within the dense zone of a membrane-assisted fluidized-bed reactor (MAFBR), in the bubbling mode of operation for steam reforming of methane both with (adiabatic) and without (isothermal) entering oxygen. Considering such a flow pattern and using the experimental data reported elsewhere [Roy S, Pruden BB, Adris AM, Grace JR, Lim CJ. Fluidized-bed steam methane reforming with oxygen input. Chem Eng Sci 1999; 54:2095-2102.], the parameters of the developed model (i.e., number of compartments for the bubble and emulsion phases) were determined and fair agreements were obtained between model predictions and experimental data.... 

Glycerol might be converted into hydrogen through a catalytic reforming process. In order to design an effective route, the choice of reaction conditions and in particular its medium considered yet a crucial issue still needing further investigations. In this research, a mathematical model of reforming processes in vapor (i.e., steam reforming (SR) and liquid phase (i.e.; aqueous phase reforming (APR)) were developed. This was performed in terms of understudying effects of parameters including the reactor diameter, catalyst morphology (i.e., particle size) and mass flow rate on the glycerol conversion. Then, a superior reaction medium in terms of these variables was determined. For data... 

In this research, a series of NiO-xMgO-SiO2 catalysts with various MgO/SiO2 molar ratios were prepared via precipitation method followed by a hydrothermal treatment in the presence of PVP as surfactant. The synergic effect between MgO and SiO2 leading to the various characteristic and catalytic performance during propane steam reforming was investigated in detail. The results showed that 15 wt% NiO-0.5MgO–SiO2 catalyst possessed the highest catalytic activity (68.9% conversion for C3H8 at 550 °C) with a negligible amount of carbon formation after 20 h of reaction duration. This superior catalytic performance can be attributed to the enhanced basicity strength along with strong metal-support... 

In this research, the propane steam reforming (PSR) as a promising alternative route over a mesoporous NiO–MgO–SiO2 catalyst to produce syngas (SG) was undertaken. This catalyst was prepared using a co-precipitation method followed by hydrothermal treatment. The influence of such catalyst preparation factors as the hydrothermal time and temperature, pH and calcination temperature on the physicochemical characteristics of the prepared samples were examined. Next, these materials were characterized through the BET-BJH, XRD, TPR, and FTIR analyses. The thermal stability of this catalyst was tested through the TGA and DTA techniques. Furthermore, the deactivation of the calcined catalysts at... 

In this paper, a comparative techno-economic evaluation of hydrogen production by glycerol reforming in aqueous and gaseous phases are presented. To accomplish the techno-economic evaluation, firstly the process modeling and design are presented. Based on the equipment purchased costs, with 80 kg/h hydrogen production, the total cost of hydrogen production is estimated 3.65 and 3.55 $/kgH2 for steam reforming and aqueous phase reforming plants, respectively. Regarding the installation factor in the equipment costs, the total cost of hydrogen production is estimated 7.49 and 7.45 $/kgH2 for steam reforming and aqueous phase reforming plants, respectively. To investigate the impact of... 

A rigorous two-dimensional model is developed for simulating the operation of a less-investigated type steam reformer having a considerably lower operating Reynolds number, higher tube diameter, and non-availability of extra steam in the feed compared with conventional steam reformers. Simulation results show that reasonable predictions can only be achieved when certain correlations for wall to fluid heat transfer equations are applied. In all cases, strong radial temperature gradients inside the reformer tubes have been found. Furthermore, the results show how a certain catalyst loading profile will affect the operation of the reformer. © 2008 Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering