Study on Catalytic Combustion of Hydrogen inside Micro Tube

Abstract

Catalytic combustion of hydrogen/air mixture inside micro-tube was numerically investigated with detailed gas phase and surface catalytic chemical reaction mechanisms. Combustion characteristics for different reaction models, the influence of wall thermal conductivity, and inlet velocity on surface catalytic combustion reaction were discussed. The Computational results indicate that the surface catalytic combustion restrains the gas phase combustion. The higher wall temperature gradient for low wall thermal conductivity will promote the gas phase combustion shift upstream and will result in a higher temperature distribution. The micro-tube can be divided into two regions. The upstream region is dominated by the surface catalytic reaction and the downstream region is dominated by the gas phase combustion. With increasing inlet velocity, the region dominated by surface catalytic reactions expanded downstream and finally occupied the whole tube. Some theoretical evidences are provided for the application of catalytic combustion to Micro-electromechanical System (MEMS) and the extension of the combustion limits.