OP-II-3

OP-II-23MICROWAVE-ASSISTED METHANOL STEAM REFORMING FORHYDROGEN PRODUCTIONDurka T. 1 , Stefanidis G.D. 1 , Van Gerven T. 2 and Stankiewicz A.I. 11 Delft University of Technology, Process & Energy Department, The Netherlands,g.stefanidis@tudelft.nl2 Katholieke Univ. Leuven, Department of Chemical Engineering, BelgiumThe ability of microwaves to provide rapid heat directly into a catalytic bed hasrendered microwave heating as a potential alternative to conventional heatingrequiring a heat transfer surface. 1 Moreover, microwave energy provides benefitsunachievable in classical routes of heating. It has been reported that due to theinteraction of microwaves with the catalytic bed, the catalytically-active phase canreach much higher temperatures than the surrounding support, the so called local hotspots. 2 This phenomenon is considered by some researchers to be responsible forthe higher reaction rate and the improved selectivity observed under microwaveheating. 3We have performed experimental work to investigate potential benefits stemmingfrom the application of microwave energy to the methanol steam reforming reactionfor hydrogen production. The study is focused on comparison of methanolconversion, product distribution and hydrogen selectivity over a range of operatingconditions under two heating modes: electric vs. microwave. Special focus is given tothe correct three-dimensional temperature mapping and hot spot detection in thecatalytic bed.The reaction is performed in a fixed-bed continuous-flow tubular glass reactorcontaining ca. 4 g of CuZnO/Al 2 O 3 catalyst (Fig. 1). The catalyst pellets (3.2 mm) areplaced at the bottom of the reactor and are supported by a glass fritz disk. Thereactor is designed in such a way so that the reaction mixture of methanol, steamand nitrogen enters the reactor from the top in a bended glass tube (thick red line inFig. 1), which crosses the catalytic bed right at the center; the reactants exit the tubebelow the catalytic bed and then flow upwards through the catalytic bed after theyhave been radially distributed by the porous glass disk. Finally, the exhaust gas isreleased from the top-right part of the reactor (Fig.1).142