Abstract
Low temperature methane steam reforming for hydrogen production, using experimental developed Ni/Al2O3 catalysts is studied both experimentally and numerically. The catalytic activity measurements were performed at a temperature range of 500–700 °C with steam to carbon ratio (S/C) of 2 and 3 under atmospheric pressure conditions. A mathematical analysis to evaluate the reaction feasibility at all different conditions that have been applied by using chemical equilibrium with applications (CEA) software and in addition, a mathematical model focused on the kinetics and the thermodynamics of the reforming reaction is introduced and applied using a commercial finite element analysis software (COMSOL Multiphysics 5.0). The experimental results were employed to validate the extracted simulation data based on the yields of the produced H2, CO2 and CO at different temperatures. A maximum hydrogen yield of 2.7 mol/mol-CH4 is achieved at 700 °C and S/C of 2 and 3. The stability of the 10%Ni/Al2O3 catalyst shows that the catalyst is prone to deactivation as supported by Thermogravimetric Analysis TGA results.
Highlights
Methane steam reforming is considered a widely available method to produce hydrogen at large-scale due to the well-developed methane infrastructures and the favorably high hydrogen to carbon ratio of methane [1]
Methane steam reforming is a strongly endothermic reaction as shown in Equation (1). It includes the exothermic water gas shift reaction (Equation (2)) which is more favorable at low temperature conditions (200–550 ◦ C)
The Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) image of the 10%Ni catalyst reacted at 700 ◦ C is presented in Figure 2c; white spots which represent Ni species were observed distributed over the grey
Summary
Methane steam reforming is considered a widely available method to produce hydrogen at large-scale due to the well-developed methane infrastructures and the favorably high hydrogen to carbon ratio of methane [1]. The fuel cell technology requires compact and low cost reformers [2]. The compact reformers should operate at low temperature (
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
