(383p) First-Principles Modeling of Natural Gas Reformers for Operational Optimization in Low-Carbon Ironmaking

The direct reduced iron (DRI) process has gained momentum in the iron and steel industry as a cleaner alternative to traditional coal-based production, offering a feasible transitional pathway toward industrial decarbonization. A key component of this process is the natural gas reformer, which produces syngas to reduce iron ore. These reformers often operate under harsh and variable conditions, making it critical to understand their behavior during both steady-state and transient modes to ensure safe, efficient, and economically viable performance.

This work presents a first-principles-based model of a natural gas reformer, designed to support operational optimization. The model represents a typical industrial configuration through coupled tube and burner components and captures key spatial phenomena, including temperature and species composition gradients, thermal expansion of reformer tubes, and intraparticle behavior within catalyst beds. A system of partial-differential-algebraic equations (PDAEs) is discretized and solved using finite difference methods, chosen to balance model fidelity and computational efficiency.

The reformer model is calibrated and validated using available industrial data, including space- and time-resolved temperature measurements, supported by a sensor discrimination algorithm that identifies erroneous readings based on energy conservation arguments. Then, various operating conditions are simulated to evaluate performance limits and identify optimal control strategies that maintain safe thermal conditions while ensuring product specifications are met. This modeling and optimization framework can also be extended to conventional steam methane reformers for hydrogen production and other high-temperature reactor systems.

Research Interests

• Process and energy systems engineering
• Process modeling (both first-principles and data-driven)
• Process optimization
• Industrial decarbonization and sustainability

Related Oral Presentation

Title: Modeling and Optimization of Hydrogen Reformers for Direct Reduced Iron Plants

Session: 10B: Modeling, Estimation and Control of Industrial Processes

Date: Monday, November 3, 2025

Time: 1:24 PM - 1:42 PM

Location: 110 (Plaza Level, Hynes Convention Center)

https://aiche.confex.com/aiche/2025/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/712058