Reaction Engineering, Kinetics, and Catalysis

A CFD study on the effect of the characteristic dimension of catalytic wall microreactors

  1. G. Arzamendi1,
  2. I. Uriz1,
  3. A. Navajas1,
  4. P. M. Diéguez1,
  5. L. M. Gandía1,*,
  6. M. Montes2,
  7. M. A. Centeno3,
  8. J. A. Odriozola3

Article first published online: 21 OCT 2011

DOI: 10.1002/aic.12790

Issue

AIChE Journal

AIChE Journal

Volume 58, Issue 9, pages 2785–2797, September 2012

Additional Information

How to Cite

Arzamendi, G., Uriz, I., Navajas, A., Diéguez, P. M., Gandía, L. M., Montes, M., Centeno, M. A. and Odriozola, J. A. (2012), A CFD study on the effect of the characteristic dimension of catalytic wall microreactors. AIChE J., 58: 2785–2797. doi: 10.1002/aic.12790

Author Information

  1. 1

    Departamento de Química Aplicada, Edificio de los Acebos, Universidad Pública de Navarra, Campus de Arrosadía s/n, E-31006 Pamplona, Spain

  2. 2

    Grupo de Ingeniería Química, Departamento de Química Aplicada, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas de San Sebastián, UPV/EHU, Paseo Manuel de Lardizábal 3, 20018 San Sebastián, Spain

  3. 3

    Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Sevilla, Centro Mixto CSIC-Universidad de Sevilla, Avda. Américo Vespucio 49, 41092 Sevilla, Spain

*Departamento de Química Aplicada, Edificio de los Acebos, Universidad Pública de Navarra, Campus de Arrosadía s/n, E-31006 Pamplona, Spain

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 8 AUG 2012
  2. Article first published online: 21 OCT 2011
  3. Accepted manuscript online: 11 OCT 2011 11:11AM EST
  4. Manuscript Revised: 23 SEP 2011
  5. Manuscript Received: 22 MAY 2011

Funded by

  • Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. Grant Number: ENE2009-14522-C04
  • Innovation Department of the Navarre Government and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (program FPI. Grant Number: BES-2010-030021

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Keywords:

  • catalytic wall microreactor;
  • computational fluid dynamics;
  • methane steam reforming;
  • microchannel reactor;
  • microreactor

Abstract

A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics study of the steam methane reforming (SMR) in microreactors is presented. Emphasis has been made on investigating the effects of the characteristic dimension (d: 0.35, 0.70, 1.40, and 2.80 mm) on the performance of two microreactor geometries: square microchannels and microslits. Results have shown that for both geometries the SMR conversion decreases markedly as d increases. Conversely, the microchannels provide a methane conversion slightly higher than that of the microslits. The different performance of the microreactors is only partially due to the different surface-to-volume ratio. Pronounced transverse temperature and concentration gradients develop as the characteristic dimension increases especially for microslits in the first half of the reactor. Therefore, external transport limitations can affect the performance of microreactors for SMR, although the characteristic dimensions are of the order of very few millimeters. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2012

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