Heats of Transfer in the Diffusion Layer before the Surface and the Surface Temperature for a Catalytic Hydrogen Oxidation (H2 + (1/2)O2 → H2O) Reaction

Abstract

The surface temperature and surface mole fractions are calculated for a catalytic hydrogen oxidation reaction over a Pt/Al2O3 catalyst pellet. The thermodynamics of irreversible processes was used in order to ensure the correct introduction of coupled heat and mass transfer. Two pathways, one using the 4 x 4 resistivity matrix and the other using a simplified effective conductivity matrix, were proven to yield equivalent results. By using expressions for the thermal diffusion coefficients, heats of transfer, and the Maxwell-Stefan diffusion coefficients given in the literature, available experimental data could be reproduced. The Dufour effect was found to be negligible for the prediction of the surface temperature. Neglecting the Soret effect would increase the predicted value of the surface temperature significantly-more than 30 K out of an average of about 400 K. It is found that the reaction rate can be used to predict the surface temperature.