from first principles PP-I-1

PP-IV-19Methane Auto-Thermal Reforming in a Compact Thermal IntegratedATR Reformer: Monolithic Catalysts PerformancesPalma V., Ricca A., Ciambelli P.Industrial Engineering Department, University of Salerno, Fisciano (SA), Italyvpalma@unisa.itUp to now, hydrogen and fuel cells combination is the most viable answer to the antitheticproblems of energy growing demand and environmental pollution reduction: in this contest,hydrogen results as the most promising solution. In order to realize distributed H 2 production,very compact and small size production plants are required: to this goal, hydrocarbons autothermalreforming reaction assures a self-sustaining process and high reactor compactness,resulting as the best method for distributed H 2 production to couple to a fuel cell system. Inspite of the increasing interest in renewable sources, due to the low costs, the widespreadexisting delivery pipelines, fossil fuels still remain the best choice in a transition periodtowards hydrogen based economy.In this work the auto-thermal reforming of methane (as natural gas surrogate) was analyzed.Structured commercial monolithic catalysts performances in methane processing werestudied: the different catalyst geometry covers a fundamental role in the processperformances. The activity tests were conducted in a compact catalytic reactor thermallyintegrated. Through a heat exchange system, integrated in the reactor, water and air stream arepreheated by exploiting the heat from exhaust stream, so allowing to feed reactants at roomtemperature as well as cooling product stream at a temperature suitable for further purificationstages (WGS, PROX). In order to achieve a very comprehensive process analysis,temperatures and composition are monitored in 6 point along the catalytic bed. The influenceof catalytic system geometry as well as thermal conductivity in the process performances wasalso analyzed. Preliminary tests showed high thermal system efficiency, with a goodhydrocarbon conversion at different operating conditions. The low start-up times makes thesystem extremely versatile, and suitable for batch operations. In one hand the monolithcatalyst allows a flatter temperature along the catalytic bed, so reducing hot spot phenomenaand improving reaction performances in the thermodynamic point of view. On the other hand,the continuous reaction stream mixing realized by the foams catalysts (as well as by a specialconfiguration of monolith catalyst) assure a products composition very close to thethermodynamic equilibrium, and allows higher gas space velocity.304