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Enhancement of methanol steam reforming in a tubular fixed-bed reactor with simultaneous heating inside and outside

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  • Zhang, Huajing
  • Xu, Chao
  • Yu, Hangyu
  • Wu, Hao
  • Jin, Fei
  • Xiao, Feng
  • Liao, Zhirong

Abstract

The fixed-bed reactor is a common hydrogen supply device for mobile fuel cell equipment. However, the fixed-bed reactor suffers from an apparent cold spot problem, restricting the hydrogen production for the methanol steam reforming (MSR). This paper proposes a tubular fixed-bed reactor (TFBR) with helical fins around the inner heating pipe (TFBRH). Then, the effects of geometric parameters (pitch, height, and width) of the helical fins, and the temperature, the inlet flow velocity, and the steam to methanol (S/C) molar ratio on the methanol conversion are numerically studied. The results show that the cold spot problem in the reactor could be significantly improved. Compared with the TFBR, the surface temperature non-uniformity Uϕ is reduced by 48.97% due to the coupling effect of the simultaneous heating inside and outside and the helical fins. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that increasing the height and reducing the pitch of helical fins is beneficial for enhancing the methanol conversion. Compared with the TFBR, the methanol conversion of TFRBH could be improved by 8.47% at a temperature of 523 K.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Huajing & Xu, Chao & Yu, Hangyu & Wu, Hao & Jin, Fei & Xiao, Feng & Liao, Zhirong, 2022. "Enhancement of methanol steam reforming in a tubular fixed-bed reactor with simultaneous heating inside and outside," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(PB).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:254:y:2022:i:pb:s0360544222012336
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2022.124330
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Guoqiang Wang & Feng Wang & Bohong Chen, 2020. "Performance Study on Methanol Steam Reforming Rib Micro-Reactor with Waste Heat Recovery," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-18, March.
    2. Wang, Guoqiang & Wang, Feng & Li, Longjian & Zhang, Guofu, 2013. "Experiment of catalyst activity distribution effect on methanol steam reforming performance in the packed bed plate-type reactor," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 267-272.
    3. Perng, Shiang-Wuu & Chien, Tsai-Chieh & Horng, Rong-Fang & Wu, Horng-Wen, 2019. "Performance enhancement of a plate methanol steam reformer by ribs installed in the reformer channel," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 588-601.
    4. Jimin Zhu & Samuel Simon Araya & Xiaoti Cui & Simon Lennart Sahlin & Søren Knudsen Kær, 2020. "Modeling and Design of a Multi-Tubular Packed-Bed Reactor for Methanol Steam Reforming over a Cu/ZnO/Al 2 O 3 Catalyst," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-25, January.
    5. Zhang, Hao & Shuai, Yong & Lougou, Bachirou Guene & Jiang, Boshu & Yang, Dazhi & Pan, Qinghui & Wang, Fuqiang & Huang, Xing, 2022. "Effects of foam structure on thermochemical characteristics of porous-filled solar reactor," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(PC).
    6. Yao, Ling & Wang, Feng & Wang, Long & Wang, Guoqiang, 2019. "Transport enhancement study on small-scale methanol steam reforming reactor with waste heat recovery for hydrogen production," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 986-997.
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    1. Perng, Shiang-Wuu & Wu, Horng-Wen, 2023. "Enhancement of proton exchange membrane fuel cell net electric power and methanol-reforming performance by vein channel carved into the reactor plate," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).
    2. Shen, Qiuwan & Shao, Zicheng & Li, Shian & Yang, Guogang & Sunden, Bengt, 2023. "Effects of B-site Al doping on microstructure characteristics and hydrogen production performance of novel LaNixAl1-xO3-δ perovskite in methanol steam reforming," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 268(C).

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