Investiatin of an isothermal PROX microreactor for fuel provessing

Two dimensional numerical simulation of the reacting flow in an isothermal catalytic PROX microreactor for fuel processing is performed with an improved SIMPLE algorithm to remove carbon monoxide from 2% to less than 10 ppm in a hydrogen rich stream. Considering the Kundsen number of this flow, application of the Navier-Stokes equations is admissible. A three-step kinetics including hydrogen oxidation, carbon monoxide oxidation and water – gas shift reaction is applied for the pt-Fe/g-Al2O3 catalyst and operating temperatures of about 100°c as detailed surface reactions. Flow field, pressure field , temperature distribution, and molar fractions of species and found in the whole domain. Also, effects of hydraulic diameter, walls temperature, and inlet molar fraction of water are investigated by considering carbon monoxide selectivity and conversion and acquired results are compared with pervious studies. It is found that water addition may improve the performance of the microreactor in carbon monoxide removal, which is in agreement with the pervious published results.

Keywords:

PROX , Microreactor , CO Selectivity , SIMPLE Algorithm