Modeling of an Adiabatic Fixed-Bed Reactor for Steam Reforming of Methanol over Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 Catalyst

A kinetic model for oxidative steam reforming of methanol (OSRM) has been developed using Langmuir–Hinshelwood (LH) approach over Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst.The kinetic model incorporates the partial oxidation of methanol, steam reforming of methanol and reverse water–gas shift reactions for the OSRM process. The majorproducts of steam reforming of methanol were hydrogen and carbon dioxide with small amount of carbon monoxide which is formed as a secondary product. Onedimensional heterogeneous plug flow model was employed to model an adiabaticfixed-bed reactor for the catalytic steam reforming of methanol. Longitudinaltemperatures predicted by this model were compared to those experimentally measured in a bench scale reactor. The reactor was packed with 5 mm pellets and operated in a temperature range of 503-543 K at an atmospheric pressure. According to the results, the maximum conversion is obtained at 543 K with WHSV of 15 h-1.

کلیدواژه ها:

steam reforming ، methanol ، modeling ، fixed-bed reactor