Numerical Analysis of an Industrial-Scale Steam Methane Reformer
Abstract
A steam reformer of a hydrogen plant is a device that supplies heat to convert the natural gas or liquid petroleum gas into hydrogen via catalysis. It has been often used in the petrochemical industry to produce hydrogen. Control of the catalyst tube temperature is a fundamental demand of the reformer design because the tube temperature must be maintained within a range that the tube has minor damage and the catalysts have a high activity to convert the natural gas or liquid petroleum gas into hydrogen. In this research, the effect of the burner on/off manners on the catalyst tube temperature and the hydrogen yield of an industrial-scale side-fired steam methane reformer is investigated. The aim is to seek a feasible burner on/off manner that has acceptable catalyst tube temperature and hydrogen yield, so as to improve the performance and service life of a steam methane reformer. It is found that when one group of burners is turned off, the outer surface temperatures of the tubes are decreased by about 94°C in average, the inner surface temperatures are decreased by about 54°C in average, and the hydrogen yields are decreased by about 4%. When two groups of burners are turned off, the outer surface temperatures of the tubes are decreased by about 175°C in average, the inner surface temperatures are decreased by about 106°C in average, and the hydrogen yields are decreased by about 7.9%. When three groups of burners are turned off, the outer surface temperatures of the tubes are decreased by about 251°C in average, the inner surface temperatures are decreased by about 151°C in average, and the hydrogen yields are decreased by about 11.4%. The catalyst tube temperatures and the hydrogen yields reduce to a greater extent in regions where burners are turned off. When the central groups of burners are turned off, the tube temperatures and the hydrogen yields have greater reductions. On the other hand, when the rear groups of burners are turned off, the tube temperatures and the hydrogen yields have lower reductions.
References
A. S. Kimmel, “Heat and mass transfer correlations for steam methane reforming in non-adiabatic, process-intensified catalytic reactors,” Master thesis, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI, USA, 2011.
L. Castagnola, G. Lomonaco, and R. Marotta, “Nuclear systems for hydrogen production: State of art and perspectives in transport sector,” Global Journal of Energy Technology Research Updates, vol. 1, pp. 4-18, 2014.
A. Tran, A. Aguirre, H. Durand, M. Crose, and P. D. Christofides, “CFD modeling of an industrial-scale steam methane reforming furnace,” Chemical Engineering Science, vol. 171, pp. 576-598, 2017.
A. Di Carlo, I. Aloisi, N. Jand, S. Stendardo, and P. U. Foscolo, “Sorption enhanced steam methane reforming on catalyst-sorbent bifunctional particles: A CFD fluidized bed reactor model,” Chemical Engineering Science, vol. 173, pp. 428-442, 2017.
L. Lao, A. Aguirre, A. Tran, Z. Wu, H. Durand, and P. D. Christofides, “CFD modeling and control of a steam methane reforming reactor,” Chemical Engineering Science, vol. 148, pp. 78-92, 2017.
E. M. A. Mokheimer, M. I. Hussain, S. Ahmed, M. A. Habib, and A. A. Al-Qutub, “On the modeling of steam methane reforming,” Journal of Energy Resources Technology, vol. 137, 012001, 2015.
M. Ni, “2D heat and mass transfer modeling of methane steam reforming for hydrogen production in a compact reformer,” Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 65, pp. 155-163, 2013.
H. Ebrahimi, J. S. Soltan Mohammadzadeh, A. Zamaniyan, and F. Shayegh, “Effect of design parameters on performance of a top fired natural gas reformer,” Applied Thermal Engineering, vol. 28, pp. 2203-2211, 2008.
Y. S. Seo, D. J. Seo, Y. T. Seo, and W. L. Yoon, “Investigation of the characteristics of a compact steam reformer integrated with a water-gas shift reactor,” Journal of Power Sources vol. 161, pp. 1208-1216, 2006.
Fluent Inc., ANSYS FLUENT 17 User’s Guide, New York: Fluent Inc., 2017.
S. V. Patankar, Numerical heat transfer and fluid flows, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1980.
B. E. Launder and D. B. Spalding, Lectures in mathematical models of turbulence, London: Academic press, 1972.
R. Siegel and J. R. Howell, Thermal radiation heat transfer, Washington, DC: Hemisphere publishing corporation, 1992.
Y. R. Sivathanu and G. M. Faeth, “Generalized state relationships for scalar properties in non-premixed hydrocarbon/air flames,” Combustion and Flame, vol. 82, pp. 211-230, 1990.
B. E. Launder and D. B. Spalding, “The numerical computation of turbulent flows,” Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, vol. 3, pp. 269-289, 1974.
C. L. Yeh, “Numerical analysis of the combustion and fluid flow in a carbon monoxide boiler,” International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, vol. 59, pp. 172-190, 2013.
L. Chibane and B. Djellouli, “Methane steam reforming reaction behaviour in a packed bed membrane reactor,” International Journal of Chemical Engineering and Applications, vol. 2, pp. 147-156, 2011.
B. F. Magnussen and B. H. Hjertager, “On mathematical models of turbulent combustion with special emphasis on soot formation and combustion,” Proc. Symp. (international) on Combustion, The Combustion Institute, 1976.
Copyright (c) 2019 Chun-Lang Yeh
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Submission of a manuscript implies: that the work described has not been published before that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere; that if and when the manuscript is accepted for publication. Authors can retain copyright in their articles with no restrictions. is accepted for publication. Authors can retain copyright of their article with no restrictions.
Since Jan. 01, 2019, AITI will publish new articles with Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, under The Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License.
The Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial (CC-BY-NC) License permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
