Modeling and Simulation of Tubular Steam Methane Reformer

管式甲烷蒸氣重組器數值建模分析

張勳承(Shing-Cheng Chang) ； 楊証皓(Cheng-Hao Yang) ； 馮子軒(Tzu-Hsuan Feng) ； 陳朝光(Cha'o-Kuang Chen)

《中國機械工程學刊》 40卷5期 (2019/10) Pp. 499-506

摘要

Steam methane reforming is a major hydrogen production process to convert the methane-rich hydrocarbon-containing gases into hydrogen. This paper presents the numerical model of a tubular steam methane reformer. By solving the mass transport, chemical reactions, and conjugated heat transfer in a double-pipe type of reformer with computational fluid dynamics scheme, the characteristics and performance of steam methane reforming process are investigated. The simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental data as the simulation parameters are adjusted to fit the specific catalysts. In the study cases of the present work, the calculated methane reforming rates are ranged from 63% to 99% with the hydrogen production rate in the range of 62%~87% by the various simulation parameters. It shows that the present numerical model has enough accuracy and is suitable for different catalyst beds for steam methane reforming process.

關鍵字

Steam Methane reforming ； Porous Catalysts ； Hydrogen Generation ； Computational Fluid Dynamics

並列摘要

甲烷蒸氣重組為產氫的主要方式之一，透過將富含碳氫燃料的氣體，如天然氣、生質氣體等進行化學重組反應，可獲得高含氫率之合成氣體。本研究建立管式甲烷蒸氣重組器之數值模擬模型，透過計算流體力學法來求解重組氣體之質能傳遞與化學反應方程式，以了解甲烷蒸氣重組過程之現象特性。藉由調整數值模型之特徵參數，本研究將重組模擬結果與商用觸媒實驗結果比較，可獲得一致的重組產氣比率，而重組器內部之溫度分布場模擬，亦與實驗結果以及相關文獻分析吻合。因此，本研究提出之甲烷蒸氣重組數值模型，具有足夠的準確度。本研究之數值模型可根據不同觸媒特性來進行特徵參數之擬合匹配，以確保模擬結果可與特定觸媒之性能吻合。在本研究的模擬特例中，根據不同觸媒參數之調控，甲烷轉化率可介於63%到99%之間，並獲得62%～87%之氫氣產生率，驗證數值模擬模型之可應用範圍大。