(376c) Joule-Heated Multi-Wire Reactor for Steam-Methane Reforming: Modeling Study for the Commercial-Scale

By contributing significantly to global GDP through manufacturing, production, and export activities, and by steering innovation to address global challenges, the industrial sector forms the backbone of much of today’s economies. However, the industrial sector accounts for approximately 24% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To stem the rise in GHG emissions, rapid development and deployment of sustainable low-carbon energy process technology solutions is needed. One decarbonization strategy is the electrification of steam-methane reforming (SMR) for hydrogen production. By serving as both a feedstock and an energy carrier, hydrogen is key to a low-carbon future.

In this modeling study, we examine a potential industrial-scale, multi-wire electrified reactor for SMR, wherein the electrification is through Joule heating. We first determine the optimal thermodynamic conditions to conduct the power-to-hydrogen process. Under both adiabatic and non-adiabatic cases, we then present a detailed parametric study on the effect(s) of process parameters, viz. feed flowrate and temperature, applied power and distribution, catalyst coating configuration, wire material, multi-wire geometric configuration, on key performance indices such as methane conversion, hydrogen production, fluid temperature, and fluid velocity profile. Fig. 1 shows example results of the calculated hydrogen production as a function of input power to a bank of 170 parallel Ni/ZrO₂ coated FeCrAl rods. Results shown in Fig. 1 were computed from a multi-physics simulation incorporating weakly compressible laminar flow, mass transfer, and convective heat transfer in the fluid domain; conductive heat transfer with Joule heating in the solid domain of parallel rods; and heterogeneous reactions taking place on the surfaces of the rods. Finally, we present the technical feasibility of the proposed reactor configuration which will have significant relevance to the hydrogen generation sector as it makes attempts to reduce its carbon footprint.