CFD Simulation of Methane Steam Micro-Reformer: Channel Design and Inlet/Outlet Configuration
Micro-reformers used for producing hydrogen with a high surface-to-volume ratio in small-scale fuel cells were investigated. To this end, scrutinizing and exploiting all areas of micro reformers is very important. Parallel micro-channels have shown good performance in eliminating dead volumes. Inlet...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Iranian Association of Chemical Engineering (IAChE)
2019-10-01
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| Series: | Iranian Journal of Chemical Engineering |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.ijche.com/article_133029_c299423b7cf9b890c98702cfb579c9f9.pdf |
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| Summary: | Micro-reformers used for producing hydrogen with a high surface-to-volume ratio in small-scale fuel cells were investigated. To this end, scrutinizing and exploiting all areas of micro reformers is very important. Parallel micro-channels have shown good performance in eliminating dead volumes. Inlet/outlet configuration has great effect on the velocity distribution through micro-channels. In this study, four configurations (1 inlet/1 outlet on the same and opposite sides; 1 inlet/2 outlets on the same and opposite sides) were studied through simulation and 1 inlet/2 outlets on opposite sides were found to have the lowest velocity difference, hence having the best configuration. Simulations were carried out at 600 °C, 1 atm, with S/C=3 and feed flow rate of 100 mL/min. Three channel patterns (i.e., parallel, splitting-jointing and pin-hole) were compared in terms of Figure of Merit (FoM) and specific conversion. Parallel channel design revealed a high value of specific conversion to be about 5.36 , while splitting-jointing and pin-hole were 5.33 and 4.91 , respectively. Based on FoM, pin-hole design had a high value of 1.34 , while the values of splitting-jointing and parallel designs were 0.037 and 1.28 , respectively. |
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| ISSN: | 1735-5397 2008-2355 |