The limiting process in steam methane reforming with gas diffusion into a porous catalytic wall in a flow reactor

CATEGORY: STEAM METHANE REFORMING 
The limiting process in steam methane reforming with gas diffusion into a porous catalytic wall in a flow reactor

Type	Journal Article
Author	Motohiro Saito
Author	Junichi Kojima
URL	http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360319915012318
Volume	40
Issue	29
Pages	8844-8855
Publication	International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
Date	August 3, 2015
Abstract	Transport phenomena for a reaction in a channel with a catalytic wall are important, not only in the gas phase but also within the catalyst layer. The research described here provides a direct method for obtaining the reaction rate of steam methane reforming by taking into account the internal diffusion of the porous catalyst on the channel wall. In an experiment with various thicknesses of nickel-based catalyst, researchers observed the limiting modes by means of the concentrations at the interface between the gas flow and the catalyst layer. According to interpretation of the experimental results using one-dimensional diffusion equation perpendicular to the flow direction, researchers observed a power-law-type reaction rate with an upper limit to be appropriate for explaining the region where the reaction was saturated. They offer a versatile criterion for the rate-limiting condition through an analytical discussion based on dimensionless numbers.