Hydrogen Production from Ethanol Steam Reforming: Fixed Bed Reactor Design

Pablo Giunta, University of Buenos Aires
Norma Amadeo, University of Buenos Aires
Miguel Laborde, University of Buenos Aires

Abstract

The aim of this work is to design an ethanol steam reformer to produce a hydrogen stream capable of feeding a 60 kW PEM fuel cell applying the plug flow model, considering the presence of the catalyst bed (heterogeneous model). The Dusty-Gas Model is employed for the catalyst, since it better predicts the fluxes of a multicomponent mixture. Moreover, this model has shown to be computationally more robust than the Fickian Model. A power law-type kinetics was used. Results showed that it is possible to carry out the ethanol steam reforming in a compact device (1.66 x 10 -5 to 5.27 x 10 -5 m3). It was also observed that this process is determined by heat transfer.

Recommended Citation

Giunta, Pablo; Amadeo, Norma; and Laborde, Miguel (2008) "Hydrogen Production from Ethanol Steam Reforming: Fixed Bed Reactor Design," International Journal of Chemical Reactor Engineering: Vol. 6: A12.
Available at: http://www.bepress.com/ijcre/vol6/A12

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