The role of Voronoi catalytic porous foam in reactive flow for hydrogen production through steam methane reforming (SMR): A pore-scale investigation

Abstract

Complex pore structures in catalysts can significantly impact flow, heat transfer, and ultimately, reaction efficiency. In steam methane reforming (SMR) for hydrogen production, replacing simple catalyst geometries with intricate, interconnected structures can enhance heat transfer and optimize the SMR process. Reactive flow in Voronoi catalytic foams (VCFs) with conjugate heat transfer is investigated using OpenFOAM for pore-scale simulations. The study examines the impact of porosity, pore density (PPI), PPI distribution (uniform vs. gradient), flow direction, inlet velocity, and temperature on hydrogen production rates within a selected representative elementary volume (REV). The results show that reducing the porosity of the simple foam from 0.8 to 0.6 has led to a 25% increase in the hydrogen production mass flow rate. Additionally, replacing the simple foam with a porosity of 0.6 with a gradient foam with the same porosity can improve the hydrogen production rate by 17%. Also, it is observed that the inlet velocity has a more significant effect on the hydrogen production rather than the inlet temperature, such that increasing the inlet velocity from 0.5 to 2 m/s results in a remarkable 75% increase in the hydrogen production rate.