Structured ZoneFlow™-Bayonet steam reforming reactor for reduced firing and steam export: Pressure drop and heat transfer modelling and evaluation of the reactor performance

Abstract

The ZoneFlow™ reactor is an annular structured reactor that offers lower pressure drop and significantly better heat transfer than standard pellets used in Steam Methane Reforming. The annular ZoneFlow™ reactor is particularly suited for use in a bayonet configuration. The produced syngas then returns via the central tube, the so-called bayonet, allowing counter-current heat exchange between the return gas and the gas reacting in the ZoneFlow™ reactor. As such, the heat supplied by the furnace can be maximally used for the reactions and steam export can be reduced. To intensify the heat transfer between the gas in the bayonet and in the annulus, an insert is installed inside the bayonet, forming a second annulus that forces the gas to flow close to the bayonet wall at high velocity. In the present work, the pressure drop and heat transfer resulting from various bayonet configurations are experimentally measured at commercial scale reactor dimensions and air flow rates equivalent to commercial conditions. Correlations for the friction factors and the heat transfer coefficients are derived from the data. The correlations are then used to simulate a commercial scale ZoneFlow™-bayonet reactor and optimize the design.