Numerical Investigation of Steam Methane Reforming over Ni- and Rh-based Catalysts to Produce Hydrogen, Syngas and Reduce Surface Coverage

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 University of Birjand

2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Birjand

Abstract

Steam methane reforming has the highest efficiency compared with other hydrogen production ways. Temperature, pressure, steam to methane ratio, and catalyst play essential roles in the Steam methane reforming process. In this paper, a numerical simulation method is performed using Cantera software in Python programming language to produce syngas and hydrogen in the Steam methane reforming process over Nickel- and Rhodium-based catalysts. The simulation is done in 600-1300K, steam to methane ratio of 2-4, and pressure of 0.25-4 bars to determine a suitable catalyst and the best range to produce hydrogen and syngas and to reduce Carbone surface coverage. The results demonstrate that the preferred ranges for hydrogen production over Nickel and Rhodium are temperature between 1000 to 1100K, pressure 1 to 2 bars, and steam to methane ratio 2.5 to 3 and 3 to 3.5 for each, respectively. The appropriate ranges to produce syngas over Nickel and Rhodium are temperature 1200-1300K and 1100-1300K, steam to methane ratio 2.5-3 and 3-3.5, respectively, and the pressure is suggested between 1-2 bars. However, Rhodium in the same condition is more active than Nickel, while the surface coverage formation is lower over Nickel than Rhodium. Therefore, Nickel is proposed to produce hydrogen via Steam Methane Reforming.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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Amirkabir Journal of Mechanical Engineering
Volume 54, Issue 7
October 2022
Pages 1587-1606

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