Heterogeneous numerical modelling for the auto thermal reforming of crude glycerol in a fixed bed reactor

doi:10.1016/j.cjche.2021.03.054

Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering ›› 2022, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (2): 261-268.DOI: 10.1016/j.cjche.2021.03.054

Previous Articles Next Articles

Heterogeneous numerical modelling for the auto thermal reforming of crude glycerol in a fixed bed reactor

Jason Williams¹, Hussameldin Ibrahim¹, Nima Karimi², Kelvin Tsun Wai Ng²

1. Clean Energy Technologies Research Institute, Process Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Regina, Regina SK S4S 0A2, Canada;
2. Environmental Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Regina, Regina SK S4S 0A2, Canada

Received:2020-05-17 Revised:2021-03-27 Online:2022-03-30 Published:2022-02-28
Contact: Hussameldin Ibrahim,E-mail:hussameldin.ibrahim@uregina.ca
Supported by:
The authors are grateful for the financial support provided by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI). The authors would like to also acknowledge the Clean Energy Technologies Research Institute (CETRI) for providing access to the Simulation Laboratory to conduct this work. The views expressed herein are those of the writers and not necessarily those of our research and funding partners.

Heterogeneous numerical modelling for the auto thermal reforming of crude glycerol in a fixed bed reactor

Jason Williams¹, Hussameldin Ibrahim¹, Nima Karimi², Kelvin Tsun Wai Ng²

1. Clean Energy Technologies Research Institute, Process Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Regina, Regina SK S4S 0A2, Canada;
2. Environmental Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, University of Regina, Regina SK S4S 0A2, Canada

通讯作者: Hussameldin Ibrahim,E-mail:hussameldin.ibrahim@uregina.ca
基金资助:
The authors are grateful for the financial support provided by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI). The authors would like to also acknowledge the Clean Energy Technologies Research Institute (CETRI) for providing access to the Simulation Laboratory to conduct this work. The views expressed herein are those of the writers and not necessarily those of our research and funding partners.

Abstract

Abstract: A mathematical model for the catalytic autothermal reforming (ATR) reaction of synthetic crude glycerol to hydrogen in a fixed bed tubular reactor (FBTR) and over an in-house developed metal oxide catalyst is presented in this work. The heterogeneous model equations account for a two-phase system of solid catalyst and bulk feed gas. Also, the ATR of crude glycerol reaction scheme and intrinsic kinetic rate model over an active, selective, and stable nickel-based catalyst were integrated in the developed model. Also, the model was validated using experimental data generated in our labs for the ATR of synthetic crude glycerol. The modelling results adequately described the detailed gas product composition and distribution, temperature profiles, and conversion propagation in the axial direction of the fixed bed reactor over a wide range of reaction temperature (773-923 K) and mass-time (12.71-158.23 g cat·min·(mol C)^-1). The crude glycerol conversion predicted with the model showing a close resemblance to those obtained experimentally with an average absolute deviation (AAD) of less than 8%. The maximum crude glycerol conversion and hydrogen yield were found to be 92% and 3 mol hydrogen/mol crude glycerol, respectively. Also, the gas product concentration profile in the reactor was adequately described (90%) accuracy with a hydrogen concentration of 39% (volume).

Key words: Hydrogen, crude glycerol, Autothermal reforming, Numerical analysis, Fixed-bed reactor

摘要： A mathematical model for the catalytic autothermal reforming (ATR) reaction of synthetic crude glycerol to hydrogen in a fixed bed tubular reactor (FBTR) and over an in-house developed metal oxide catalyst is presented in this work. The heterogeneous model equations account for a two-phase system of solid catalyst and bulk feed gas. Also, the ATR of crude glycerol reaction scheme and intrinsic kinetic rate model over an active, selective, and stable nickel-based catalyst were integrated in the developed model. Also, the model was validated using experimental data generated in our labs for the ATR of synthetic crude glycerol. The modelling results adequately described the detailed gas product composition and distribution, temperature profiles, and conversion propagation in the axial direction of the fixed bed reactor over a wide range of reaction temperature (773-923 K) and mass-time (12.71-158.23 g cat·min·(mol C)^-1). The crude glycerol conversion predicted with the model showing a close resemblance to those obtained experimentally with an average absolute deviation (AAD) of less than 8%. The maximum crude glycerol conversion and hydrogen yield were found to be 92% and 3 mol hydrogen/mol crude glycerol, respectively. Also, the gas product concentration profile in the reactor was adequately described (90%) accuracy with a hydrogen concentration of 39% (volume).

关键词: Hydrogen, crude glycerol, Autothermal reforming, Numerical analysis, Fixed-bed reactor

Jason Williams, Hussameldin Ibrahim, Nima Karimi, Kelvin Tsun Wai Ng. Heterogeneous numerical modelling for the auto thermal reforming of crude glycerol in a fixed bed reactor[J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2022, 42(2): 261-268.

References

[1] J. Turner, G. Sverdrup, M.K. Mann, P.C. Maness, B. Kroposki, M. Ghirardi, R.J. Evans, D. Blake, Renewable hydrogen production, Int. J. Energy Res. 32 (5) (2008) 379-407
[2] A. Demirbas, Future hydrogen economy and policy, Energy Sources Part B:Econ. Plan. Policy 12 (2) (2017) 172-181
[3] B.L. Dou, H. Zhang, G.M. Cui, M.X. He, C.J. Ruan, Z.L. Wang, H.S. Chen, Y.J. Xu, B. Jiang, C.F. Wu, Hydrogen sorption and desorption behaviors of Mg-Ni-Cu doped carbon nanotubes at high temperature, Energy 167 (2019) 1097-1106
[4] B.L. Dou, H. Zhang, Y.C. Song, L.F. Zhao, B. Jiang, M.X. He, C.J. Ruan, H.S. Chen, Y.J. Xu, Hydrogen production from the thermochemical conversion of biomass:issues and challenges, Sustain. Energy Fuels 3 (2) (2019) 314-342
[5] B.L. Dou, Y.C. Song, C. Wang, H.S. Chen, Y.J. Xu, Hydrogen production from catalytic steam reforming of biodiesel byproduct glycerol:Issues and challenges, Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 30 (2014) 950-960
[6] C. A. Schwengber, H. J. Alves, R. A. Schaffner, F. A. da Silva, R. Sequinel, V. R. Bach, R. J. Ferracin, Overview of glycerol reforming for hydrogen production, Renewable Sustainable Energy Rev., 58 (2016) 259-266
[7] X.H. Fan, R. Burton, Y.C. Zhou, Glycerol (byproduct of biodiesel production) as a source for fuels and chemicals-Mini review, Renew Open Fuels Energy Sci. J. Sustain 3 (2010) 17-22
[8] P. Dauenhauer, J. Salge, L. Schmidt, Renewable hydrogen by autothermal steam reforming of volatile carbohydrates, J. Catal. 244 (2) (2006) 238-247
[9] S. Chan, D. Hoang, O. Ding, Transient performance of an autothermal reformer-A 2-D modeling approach, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, 48 (19) (2005) 4205-4214
[10] H.Y. Tang, J. Greenwood, P. Erickson, Modeling of a fixed-bed copper-based catalyst for reforming methanol:Steam and autothermal reformation, Int. J. Hydrog. Energy 40 (25) (2015) 8034-8050
[11] A. Abdul Ghani, Hydrogen Production by the Catalytic Auto-Thermal Reforming of Synthetic Crude Glycerol in a Packed Bed Tubular Reactor, Masters Thesis, University of Regina, Saskatchewan, 2014.
[12] G.F. Froment, J. De Wilde, K.B. Bischoff, Chemical Reactor Analysis and Design. (3rd ed.), John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey, 2011.
[13] J. Petera, L. Nowicki, S. Ledakowicz, New numerical algorithm for solving multidimensional heterogeneous model of the fixed bed reactor, Chem. Eng. J. 214 (2013) 237-246
[14] O. Levenspiel, Chemical Reaction Engineering. (3rd ed.), John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey, 1999.
[15] D. Scognamiglio, Hydrogen as Energy Carrier:Decentralized Production by Autothermal Reforming of Methane, PhD.Thesis, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Italy, 2008.
[16] Y. He, Simulation Studies on a Non-Isothermal, Nonadiabatic, Fixed-Bed Reactor, PhD.Thesis, University of Kansas, Kansas, 2003.
[17] F. Allain, Evaluation of the Classical Reaction Engineering Models in Terms of Mass Transport and Reaction Rate Distribution for Low Tube-to-Particle Diameter Ratio Beds. Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Masters Thesis, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Massachusetts, 2011.
[18] E. Afabor, A. Salama, H. Ibrahim, Packed bed reactor modeling of the catalytic auto-thermal reforming of synthetic crude glycerol, J. Environ. Chem. Eng. 5 (5) (2017) 4850-4857
[19] J.H. Ghouse, T.A. AdamsII, A multi-scale dynamic two-dimensional heterogeneous model for catalytic steam methane reforming reactors, Int. J. Hydrog. Energy 38 (24) (2013) 9984-9999
[20] J.M. Williams, A Two-Dimensional Heterogeneous Numerical Model for Auto-Thermal Reforming of Synthetic Crude Glycerol in A Packed Bed Tubular Reactor, Masters Thesis, University of Regina, Saskatchewan, 2017.
[21] A.A. Iordanidis, Mathematical Modeling of Catalytic Fixed Bed Reactors. PhD. Thesis, Twente University Press Enschede, Netherlands, 2002.
[22] K.R. Rout, H.A. Jakobsen, A numerical study of fixed bed reactor modelling for steam methane reforming process, Can. J. Chem. Eng. 93 (7) (2015) 1222-1238
[23] H. S. Fogler, Essentials of Chemical Reaction Engineering,Upper Saddle River, NJ:Prentice Hall, 2011
[24] U. Jimmy, M. Mohamedali, H. Zbrahim, Thermodynamic analysis of autothermal reforming of synthetic crude glycerol (SCG) for hydrogen production, Chem. Eng. 1 (1) (2017) 4
[25] C. G. Hill and T. W. Root, Introduction to chemical reactor theory. Reaction Kinetics and Reactor Design. CRC Press, 2000:247-346
[26] R. Q. Ferreira, A. Costa, A. Rodrigues, Dynamic behavior of fixed-bed reactors with large-pore catalysts:A bidimensional heterogeneous diffusion/convection model, Comput. Chem. Eng., 16 (8) (1992) 721-751

Heterogeneous numerical modelling for the auto thermal reforming of crude glycerol in a fixed bed reactor

Heterogeneous numerical modelling for the auto thermal reforming of crude glycerol in a fixed bed reactor

PDF (PC)

Knowledge

Abstract

Cite this article

share this article

References

Related Articles 9

Recommended Articles

Metrics

Comments

[1]	P.M. Patil, Bharath Goudar. Entropy generation analysis from the time-dependent quadratic combined convective flow with multiple diffusions and nonlinear thermal radiation [J]. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2023, 53(1): 46-55.
[2]	A.A. Alfaryjat, A. Dobrovicescu, D. Stanciu. Influence of heat flux and Reynolds number on the entropy generation for different types of nanofluids in a hexagon microchannel heat sink [J]. Chin.J.Chem.Eng., 2019, 27(3): 501-513.
[3]	Ali Darvishi, Razieh Davand, Farhad Khorasheh, Moslem Fattahi. Modeling-based optimization of a fixed-bed industrial reactor for oxidative dehydrogenation of propane [J]. Chin.J.Chem.Eng., 2016, 24(5): 612-622.
[4]	Shu Zhang, Yonggang Luo, Chunzhu Li, Yonggang Wang . Changes in char reactivity due to char-oxygen and char-steam reactions using Victorian brown coal in a fixed-bed reactor [J]. Chin.J.Chem.Eng., 2015, 23(1): 321-325.
[5]	YANG Lei, YU Hongbing, WANG Shengqiang, WANG Haowen, ZHOU Qibin. Carbon Dioxide Captured from Flue Gas by Modified Ca-based Sorbents in Fixed-bed Reactor at High Temperature [J]. Chin.J.Chem.Eng., 2013, 21(2): 199-204.
[6]	M. Fazlollahnejad, M. Taghizadeh, A. Eliassi, G. Bakeri. Experimental Study and Modeling of an Adiabatic Fixed-bed Reactor for Methanol Dehydration to Dimethyl Ether [J]. , 2009, 17(4): 630-634.
[7]	LIU Zhixiang, MAO Zongqiang, XU Jingming, Natascha Hess-Mohr, Volkmar M.Schmidt. Operation Conditions Optimization of Hydrogen Production by Propane Autothermal Reforming for PEMFC Application [J]. , 2006, 14(2): 259-265.
[8]	ZHOU Kun, ZENG AiWu, GAO Changbao, YU Guocong. Study on the Axial Dispersion of Liquid in Column Flotation [J]. , 2003, 11(4): 477-479.
[9]	ZHOU Xinggui, LIU Lianghong, DAI Yingchun, YUAN Weikang. On-Line Prediction of a Fixed-Bed Reactor Using K-L Expansion and Neural Networks [J]. , 1998, 6(4): 299-305.