COUPLING DETAILED HETEROGENEOUS AND HOMOGENEOUS KINETICS WITH MASS AND HEAT TRANSFER IN CATALYTIC REFORMING OF LOGISTIC FUELS

摘要

A considerable long term interest in hydrogen as a fuel in relation to the scarcity of fossil fuels and the associated pollution problems excites the development of systems using catalytic partial oxidation and steam reforming for the production of hydrogen-rich synthesis gas from conventional fuels. Two examples of such systems being currently of great technological interest are the Solid-Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) [1] when operated with non-pure hydrogen fuels, e.g. partially reformed logistic fuels, and short-contact time reactors for reforming gasoline and diesel fuels [2], e.g., as first stage of an on-board auxiliary power unit (APU). The non-linear coupling of complex homogeneous and heterogeneous chemical reaction kinetics with heat and mass transfer in such systems matters for reactor behavior, often even superimposed by transient modifications of the active catalytic phase, e.g. by oxidation and coking