Heat and Mass Transfer in a Reforming Catalyst Bed: Quantitative Evaluation of the Controlling Factor by Experiment

Abstract

Heat and mass transfer characteristics in a reforming catalyst bed have been experimentally investigated. Experiments were carried out with a single bench-scaled reforming tube which was filled with reforming catalyst. The tube wall was uniformly heated, and mixtures of steam and methane or propane were reformed through the catalyst bed. Most part of the reaction was completed in the upper part of the test tube. The effects of space velocity, which is a ratio of volumetric flow rate of process gas to the catalyst volume, steam carbon molar ratio, wall temperature, bed temperature, and catalyst particle diameter on the transport phenomena with chemical reaction, were determined. A correlation to heat transfer coefficient was determined by Nu, Rep, Pr, dp/d, and Da. The prediction of the overall methane conversion rate was also presented.