Modeling of microreactor for syngas production by catalytic partial oxidation of methane

Fixed-bed reactors for the catalytic partial oxidation of methane (CPOM) to produce synthesis gas still pose hot spots problems. Microreactor is a good alternative reactor proposed to resolve these problems. In this paper, synthesis gas (hydrogen and carbon monoxide) production was investigated by a two-dimensional numerical model of single microchannel. Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modeling with detailed chemistry was conducted to understand the CPOM on platinum (Pt) catalyst. Gas inlet velocity, microchannel pressure, and fuel to air ratio (F/A) are selected as the effective parameters on microchannel performance. Study results show that Reynolds number has considerable effect on methane conversion, hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratio (H2/CO), and product distribution. Increasing gas inlet velocity causes all the above parameters to decrease. It is noted that increasing microchannel pressure and decreasing the ratio of fuel to air cause the decrease of the H2/CO ratio.