Heat transfer analysis of a tube-in-tube steam reformer for the application of MGT-SOFC hybrid process

Abstract

This work deals with the evaluation of a tube-in-tube reformer concept for the realization of the Micro Gas Turbine Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (MGT-SOFC) hybrid process using a semi-validated numerical model. Rigorous heat transfer analysis considering chemical reactions were performed for this concept. To validate the reforming kinetics and heat transfer mechanisms in a catalyst bed, experiments were conducted using a single reactor tube located in a temperature-controlled furnace. Different experimental conditions, such as furnace temperature and space velocity, were considered. A numerical model was replicated according to the single-tube reactor investigated and validated with the experimental results. The catalyst bed is considered as porous material with chemical reactions as internal source terms of species transport equations and energy transport equation. Since the heat transfer into the reformer tubes in the real operating environment is subject to different mechanisms (predominantly convection) than that in a furnace (predominantly thermal radiation), only the parameters on the side of the catalyst bed tuned by the single-tube experiment could be retained for the numerical model of the tube-in-tube concept, which leads to a semi-validated model. Based on this semi-validated model, the performance (such as temperature distribution, conversion rate of the products, etc.) and the applicability of a tube-in-tube reformer concept, considering the variation of boundary conditions, were investigated and evaluated.