(677f) Reaction Kinetics for the Production of Hydrogen From Bioethanol in an Inconel 625 Reactor From 600 to 700°C

Ethanol produced from renewable resources may be reformed in supercritical water to produce hydrogen.  For this reaction, supercritical water acts both as a highly energetic reactant and solvent.  The reformation of ethanol was studied in a 926 mL tubular Inconel 625 Grade 1 reactor without the aid of a heterogeneous catalyst.   The reformation reactions were evaluated between 600 and 700 C at 24.2 MPa with space times between 160 and 500 seconds and ethanol to water mass feed ratios between 1 and 17%.  Furthermore, ethanol and water formed a binary supercritical mixture at the inlet conditions of the reactor.  The products in order of descending order of prevalence were hydrogen, carbon dioxide, methane, ethane, and carbon monoxide.  All of the ethanol fed into the reactor was reacted.  The global reactions and revised reaction kinetic rate information will be discussed.  In addition, the proposed rate laws and regressed activation energies will be presented.