Heat supply and hydrogen yield in an ethanol micro-reformer

A. M. ANZOLA, Y. M. BRUSCHI, E. LÓPEZ, N. S. SCHBIB, M. N. PEDERNERA, D.O. BORIO

INDUSTRIAL & ENGINEERING CHEMICAL RESEARCH

AMER CHEMICAL SOC

Año: 2011 vol. 50 p. 2698 - 2705

0888-5885

A simulation study of a microreactor for steam reforming of ethanol (ESR) over a washcoated Pd catalyst is reported in the present manuscript. Bo co- and countercurrent configurations are considered for the streams of reactants and flue gas through microchannels of a square section. Two contiguous channels, asssumed as representative of the whole reactor behavior, are simulated using a 1D seudohomogeneous model. The microreactor performance is analyzed for different heat supply strategies and channel sizes. The results demostrate 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 cocurrent flow configuration proved to yield the higher performance. While smaller channels work better for cocurrent operation, an optimum compromise value is found for the channel size in countercurrent flow.