CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

A simulation study of a microreactor for steam reforming of ethanol (ESR) over a washcoated Pd catalyst is reported in the present manuscript. Both co- and counter-current configurations are considered for the streams of reactants and flue gas trough microchannels of square section. Two contiguous channels, assumed as representative of the whole reactor behavior, are simulated using a 1D pseudo-homogeneous model. The microreactor performance is analyzed for different heat-supply strategies and channel sizes. The results demonstrate that the ESR in the microreactor is strongly controlled by the heat supply. The hydrogen yield has a marked dependence on the total amount of heat transferred from the flue gas to the reformate and the axial distribution of the heat flow. The co-current flow configuration proved to yield the higher performance. While smaller channels work better for co-current operation, an optimum compromise value is found for the channel size in counter-current flow.