Influence of Steam Reforming Catalyst Geometry on the Performance of Tubular Reformer – Simulation Calculations

• Authors: Ewelina Franczyk , Andrzej Gołębiowski , Tadeusz Borowiecki , Paweł Kowalik , Waldemar Wróbel
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

A proper selection of steam reforming catalyst geometry has a direct effect on the efficiency and economy of hydrogen production from natural gas and is a very important technological and engineering issue in terms of process optimisation. This paper determines the influence of widely used seven-hole grain diameter (ranging from 11 to 21 mm), h/d (height/diameter) ratio of catalyst grain and Sh/St (hole surface/total cylinder surface in cross-section) ratio (ranging from 0.13 to 0.37) on the gas load of catalyst bed, gas flow resistance, maximum wall temperature and the risk of catalyst coking. Calculations were based on the one-dimensional pseudo-homogeneous model of a steam reforming tubular reactor, with catalyst parameters derived from our investigations. The process analysis shows that it is advantageous, along the whole reformer tube length, to apply catalyst forms of h/d = 1 ratio, relatively large dimensions, possibly high bed porosity and Sh/St ≈ 0.30-0.37 ratio. It enables a considerable process intensification and the processing of more natural gas at the same flow resistance, despite lower bed activity, without catalyst coking risk. Alternatively, plant pressure drop can be reduced maintaining the same gas load, which translates directly into diminishing the operating costs as a result of lowering power consumption for gas compression.

Keywords

EN

tubular steam reforming; nickel catalyst geometry; process simulation; catalyst coking; process intensification

• Publisher: De Gruyter Open
• Journal: Chemical and Process Engineering
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 36
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 239-250

Dates

published

1 - 6 - 2015

received

12 - 9 - 2014

online

17 - 7 - 2015

revised

21 - 4 - 2015

accepted

30 - 4 - 2015

Contributors

author

Ewelina Franczyk

• New Chemical Syntheses Institute (INS), Al. Tysiąclecia Państwa Polskiego 13A, 24-110 Puławy, Poland

author

Andrzej Gołębiowski

• New Chemical Syntheses Institute (INS), Al. Tysiąclecia Państwa Polskiego 13A, 24-110 Puławy, Poland

author

Tadeusz Borowiecki

• New Chemical Syntheses Institute (INS), Al. Tysiąclecia Państwa Polskiego 13A, 24-110 Puławy, Poland
• Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (UMCS), Faculty of Chemistry, Department of Chemical Technology, Pl. M. Curie-Skłodowskiej 3, 20-031 Lublin, Poland

author

Paweł Kowalik

• New Chemical Syntheses Institute (INS), Al. Tysiąclecia Państwa Polskiego 13A, 24-110 Puławy, Poland

author

Waldemar Wróbel

• New Chemical Syntheses Institute (INS), Al. Tysiąclecia Państwa Polskiego 13A, 24-110 Puławy, Poland

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Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/cpe-2015-0016