Oxygen feeding strategies for methane ATR

Abstract

The performance of different reactor designs for methane autothermal reforming (ATR) with diverse options of O 2 feeding is comparatively explored. The designs under consideration include a single bed reactor with O 2 feed at the inlet, multibed reactors in series with inter-bed oxygen injection, and a multitubular membrane reactor with O 2 feeding through the porous wall. The distribution of O 2 leads to low O 2 concentrations in the reaction mixture and less severe thermal conditions. The evolution of methane reforming and combustion reactions proceeds in parallel due to a suitable degree of reduction of the Ni catalyst. Particularly, the membrane reactor can produce H 2 in a more distributed way along the reactor. The leakage of O 2 at the membrane reactor outlet can be prevented with a final section of a non-porous wall. The modified membrane reactor demonstrates flexibility to carry out the methane ATR with lower temperatures without deterioration of H 2 yield. • The distribution of O 2 feeding leads to less severe thermal conditions. • Low O 2 concentrations allow a suitable degree of reduction of the catalyst. • The leakage of O 2 at the outlet of the membrane reactor is a drawback. • A final section of non-porous wall in the membrane reactor prevents the O 2 leakage. • Membrane reactor can perform methane ATR at lower temperatures with high yields of H 2 .