Influence of Pressure, Velocity and Fluid Material on Heat Transport in Structured Open-Cell Foam Reactors Investigated Using CFD Simulations

Christoph Sinn,Georg R Pesch,Jonas Wentrup,Jorg Thöming

doi:10.3390/chemengineering4040061

Abstract

Structured open-cell foam reactors are promising for managing highly exothermic reactions such as CO2 methanation due to their excellent heat transport properties. Especially at low flow rates and under dynamic operation, foam-based reactors can be advantageous over classic fixed-bed reactors. To efficiently design the catalyst carriers, a thorough understanding of heat transport mechanisms is needed. So far, studies on heat transport in foams have mostly focused on the solid phase and used air at atmospheric pressure as fluid phase. With the aid of pore-scale 3d CFD simulations, we analyze the effect of the fluid properties on heat transport under conditions close to the CO2 methanation reaction for two different foam structures. The exothermicity is mimicked via volumetric uniformly distributed heat sources. We found for foams that are designed to be used as catalyst carriers that the working pressure range and the superficial velocity influence the dominant heat removal mechanism significantly. In contrast, the influence of fluid type and gravity on heat removal is small in the range relevant for heterogeneous catalysis. The findings might help to facilitate the design-process of open-cell foam reactors and to better understand heat transport mechanisms in foams.

Highlights

Open-cell foams are promising monolithic catalyst support structures for exo- and endothermal heterogeneous gas-phase reactions such as the CO2 methanation, due favorable characteristics such as good heat transport, low pressure drop and high porosities [1,2,3]
Studies on heat transport in foams have mostly focused on the solid phase and used air at atmospheric pressure as fluid phase
With the aid of pore-scale 3d computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, we analyze the effect of the fluid properties on heat transport under conditions close to the CO2 methanation reaction for two different foam structures

Summary

Introduction

Open-cell foams are promising monolithic catalyst support structures for exo- and endothermal heterogeneous gas-phase reactions such as the CO2 methanation, due favorable characteristics such as good heat transport, low pressure drop and high porosities [1,2,3]. Abstract: Structured open-cell foam reactors are promising for managing highly exothermic reactions such as CO2 methanation due to their excellent heat transport properties. Studies on heat transport in foams have mostly focused on the solid phase and used air at atmospheric pressure as fluid phase.

Results

Conclusion