Numerical Investigation of the Effects of Steam Mole Fraction and the Inlet Velocity of Reforming Reactants on an Industrial-Scale Steam Methane Reformer

Steam methane reforming (SMR) is the most common commercial method of industrial hydrogen production. Control of the catalyst tube temperature is a fundamental demand of the reformer design because the tube temperature must be maintained within a range that the catalysts have high activity and the tube has minor damage. In this paper, the transport and chemical reaction in an industrial-scale steam methane reformer are simulated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Two factors influencing the reformer temperature, hydrogen yield and stress distribution are discussed: (1) the mole fraction of steam (Y H2O ) and (2) the inlet velocity of the reforming reactants. The purpose of this paper is to get a better understanding of the flow and thermal development in a reformer and thus, to make it possible to improve the performance and lifetime of a steam reformer. It is found that the lowest temperature at the reforming tube surface occurs when Y H2O is 0.5. Hydrogen yield has the highest value when Y H2O is 0.5. The wall shear stress at the reforming tube surface is higher at a higher Y H2O . The surface temperature of a reforming tube increases with the inlet velocity of the reforming reactants. Finally, the wall shear stress at the reforming tube surface increases with the inlet velocity of the reforming reactants.