Steam Reforming of Ethanol in a Microchannel Reactor: Kinetic Study and Reactor Simulation

The kinetics of steam reforming of ethanol (SRE) was determined at atmospheric pressure in the temperature range of 450–550 °C over 2% Rh/20% CeO2/Al2O3 in a microchannel reactor. The product distribution could be explained by a reaction scheme consisting of four reactions: reaction of steam with ethanol, decomposition of ethanol, methane steam reforming, and the water-gas shift reaction. The kinetic expression based on Langmuir–Hinshelwood kinetics could explain the experimental data satisfactorily. A two-dimensional simulation was also carried out to predict the performance of a microchannel SRE reactor in which the endothermic heat of reaction was supplied by the co-current flow of a hot gas in the adjacent channel. The performance of the coupled reactor/heat exchange system was evaluated by varying several parameters such as heating side gas velocity and temperature, width of the channel, weight of the catalyst, reactor inlet temperature, and inlet flow rate.