Generation and Purification Modeling of Hydrogen by Water-Gas Shift Reaction in Low-Temperature for Fuel Cell Utilization

In this work, the kinetics of water-gas shift (WGS) reaction which was catalyzed by CuO/ZnO/Al2O3 had been studied and in the following, based on modeling of the reactor coupled with WGS reaction for production of hydrogen, the effect of changes on temperature, pressure, inlet flow rate, molar ratio of H2O/Co, porosity and permeability had been discussed. This reactor consists of coaxial cylinders for three main partitions of catalytic packed-bed, sweep gas and intercooler section is designed for elimination of temperature gradient, and by consumption of steam and eliminating carbon monoxide, it can produce hydrogen. In the modeling, the Langmuir–Hinshelwood’s mechanism had been applied for the kinetic study. In addition, the equilibrium constant of reaction had been obtained based on the relations between thermodynamic properties. Also, mass balance for this isothermal (WGS) membrane reactor, regardless of the pressure drop in the reactor length had been carried out (based on two assumptions which are considering the gas and flow as ideal gas and Newtonian flow, respectively).

Keywords:

Water-gas shift reaction , Hydrogen production , Elimination of carbon monoxide (CO) , Fuel cell , Reactor modeling