• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.33 no.9
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• pp.709-717
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• 2009

Heat transfer rate is a very important factor for the performance of a steam reformer because a steam reforming reaction is an endothermic reaction. Coaxial cylindrical reactor is the reactor design which can improve the heat transfer rate. Temperature, fuel conversion and heat flux in the coaxial cylindrical steam reformer are studied in this paper using numerical method under various operating conditions. Langmuir-Hinshelwood model and pseudo-homogeneous model are incorporated for the catalytic surface reaction. Dominant chemical reactions are assumed as a Steam Reforming (SR) reaction, a Water-Gas Shift (WGS) reaction, and a Direct Steam Reforming (DSR) reaction. Although coaxial cylindrical steam reformer uses 33% less amount of catalyst than cylindrical steam reformer, its fuel conversion is increased 10 % more and its temperature is also high as about 30 degree. There is no heat transfer limitation near the inlet area at coaxial-type reactor. However, pressure drop of the coaxial cylindrical reactor is 10 times higher than that of cylindrical reactor. Operating parameters of coaxial cylindrical steam reformer are the wall temperature, the inlet temperature, and the Gas Hourly Space Velocity (GHSV). When the wall temperature is high, the temperature and the fuel conversion are increased due to the high heat transfer rate. The fuel conversion rate is increased with the high inlet temperature. However, temperature drop clearly occurs near the inlet area since an endothermic reaction is active due to the high inlet temperature. When GHSV is increased, the fuel conversion is decreased because of the heat transfer limitation and short residence time.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.204-209
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• 2012

In this study, kinetics data was obtained for steam reforming reaction of ethane over the commercial ruthenium catalyst. The variables of ethane steam reforming were the reaction temperature, partial pressure of ethane, and steam/ethane mole ratio. Parameters for the power rate law kinetic model and the Langmuir-Hinshelwood model were obtained from the kinetic data. Also, sizing of steam reforming reactor was performed by using PRO/II simulator. The reactor size calculated by the power rate law kinetic model was bigger than that of using the Langmuir-Hinshelwood model for the same conversion of ethane. Reactor size calculated by the Langmuir-Hinshelwood model seems to be more suitable for the reactor design because the Langmuir-Hinshelwood model was more consistent with the experimental results.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.14-20
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• 2022

In this study, the catalytic reaction characteristics for producing hydrogen using methanol steam reforming were investigated. Nickel and copper are frequently used in steam reforming reaction and methanol synthesis, were used as main active metals. As a support, hydrotalcite has a high specific surface area, excellent porosity and thermal stability, and has weak Lewis acid sites and basic properties. Hydrotalcite was used to identify catalysts of methanol steam reforming with catalytic activity and their properties. In this research, high reactivity was shown in the catalyst of copper metal with high reducibility. And increasing of active metal loading showed the higher the methanol conversion and hydrogen selectivity.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.375-381
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• 2013

Kinetics data were obtained for steam reforming of methane and natural gas over the commercial nickel catalyst. Variables for the steam reforming were the reaction temperature and partial pressure of reactants. Parameters for the Power law rate model and the Langmuir-Hinshelwood model were obtained from the kinetic data. As a result of the reforming reaction using pure methane as a reactant, the reaction rate could be determined by the Power law rate model as well as the Langmuir-Hinshelwood model. In the case of methane in natural gas, however, the Langmuir-Hinshelwood model is much more suitable than the Power law rate model in terms of explaining methane reforming reaction. This behavior can be attributed to the competitive adsorption of methane, ethane, propane and butane in natural gas over the same catalyst sites.

• 한국연소학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.50-57
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• 2005

The aim of this study is to numerically investigate a compact reformer system currently under development and to design a better reforming system with more efficient heat transfer and reforming reactions. Numerical models were established separately for both the combustion part and the reforming reaction part. A comparison between the calculation results and experimental data showed that the concentration of the reformate at the exit of the reforming system was in good agreement with the measured data, but for the temperature at the exit little difference between them was found. After checking the validity of the numerical models, the heat transfer between the combustion gas and reforming catalysts was estimated and the behavior of the catalyst bed was investigated as a function of the operation parameters.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.156.1-156.1
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• 2011

It is of great importance to predict operating parameter characteristics of an integrated fuel processor by the increased life-time and system performance. In this study, computational analysis is performed to gain fundamental insights on transport phenomena and chemical reactions in reformer which consists of preheating, steam reforming, and water gas shift reaction beds. Also, a top-fired burner locates inside of the reforming system. The combustor is providing thermal energy necessary for the steam reforming bed which is a endothermic catalytic reactor. Two-dimensional numerical model of the integrated fuel processing system is introduced for the analysis of heat and mass transport phenomena as well as surface kinetics and catalytic process. A kinetic model was developed and then computational results were compared with the experimental data available in the literature. Subsequently, parameter study using the validated steam methane reforming model was conducted by considering operating parameters, i.e. steam to carbon ratio and temperature.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.1997-2002
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• 2007

The reformer is one of the most important chemical processes for the production of high purity hydrogen from fossil fuel. This study compares zero-dimensional model with CFD models for reaction analysis of methane-steam reformer. The zero-dimensional model is an empirical equation, however CFD model uses reactions of Arrhenius type. Because the reaction coefficients of the steam-methane catalytic reforming have not been reported before in the form of Arrhenius type, the present study aims to find the appropriate reaction coefficients. The used CFD code is Fluent 6.2 version. Several models are compared for the case of various operating temperature, mass of catalyst and steam to methane ratio.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.340-343
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• 2006

In this paper, heat and mass transfer characteristics through experimental and numerical study are extensively investigated in steam reform ins reactor under given operating conditions. In order to get simulated data at outlet of the reformer, heterogeneous reactor model is incorporated. As the reaction also takes place in porous media, two medium approach is used to take into account thermally non-equilibrium phenomena between catalyst and bulk gas. In steam reforming reaction, heat transfer issue is so significant that geometrical configuration study is also conducted.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Combustion
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.36-45
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• 2011

The heat-flow characteristics and reforming efficiency of steam reformer with combustor are numerically investigated at various operating conditions. SCR(Steam to Carbon Ratio) and GHSV(Gas Hourly Space Velocity) are adopted as important operating conditions. User-Defined-Function(UDF) was used to simultaneously calculate reforming and combustion reaction. Numerical results show that hot burned gas rise by a buoyant force and heat exchange between reforming reactors and cocurrent flow occurs in the combustion region. The results also indicate that an increase of SCR leads to decrease the mole fraction of hydrogen at the reactor outlet. As GHSV increases, conversion rate decreases.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.243-247
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• 2009

This study is purposed to analyze thermodynamic properties on the hydrogen production by ethylene glycol steam reforming. Various reaction conditions of temperatures(300~1,600 K), feed compositions(steam/carbon= 0.5~4.5), and pressures(1~30 atm) were applied to investigate the effects of the reaction conditions on the thermodynamic properties of dimethyl ether steam reforming. An endothermic steam reforming competed with an exothermic water gas shift reaction and an exothermic methanation within the applied reaction condition. Hydrogen production was initiated at the temperature of 400 K and the production rate was promoted at temperatures exceeding 500 K. An increase of steam to carbon ratio(S/C) in feed mixture over 1.0 resulted in the increase of the water gas shift reaction, which lowered the formation of carbon monoxide. The maximum hydrogen yield with minimizing loss of thermodynamic conversion efficiency was achieved at the reaction conditions of a temperature of 900 K and a steam to carbon ratio of 3.0.