AbstractThe conversion of methane to hydrogen by partial oxidation in a porous media reactor was investigated over a range of large fuel– air equivalence by numerical simulation. A one‐dimensional two‐temperature model was presented and the detailed GRI 1.2 mechanism was used for methane oxidation. The simulation predicted distributions of peak combustion temperatures, flame structure, and main chemical species as well as the percent conversion of CH4 to H2. The influences of parameters affecting combustion characteristics, i.e., the inlet gas velocity and equivalence ratio of the porous media, were examined. The computational results were validated against the experimental data of Kennedy et al., and reasonable agreement was observed. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/htj.20273