(172f) Kinetic Model of Complex Reaction Network: Methanol Steam Reforming

The reaction pathways and networks of many chemical reactions of industrial importance are usually so complicated that simple empirical rate laws are adopted to describe the reaction kinetics. Although empirical rate laws are able to correlate the kinetic data obtained from laboratory and/or pilot plant tests, the obtained rate laws and kinetic parameters cannot be used to design reactors with large scale-up ratio confidently. Therefore the proposed empirical kinetic models must be tested and revised in different scale-up stages with different reactor sizes. Such a stagewise scale-up process takes time, consumes material, and generates wastes. Direct scale-up from laboratory scale to full scale would be desired in highly competitive business environment. For safety, such a large-factor scale up requires a kinetic model derived from reaction mechanism that reflects all possible elementary steps. In this study, a methodology based on the Bodenstein approximation method and network reduction technique is used to derive the rate equations for methanol steam reforming. The experimental data published in the literature will be analyzed by various kinetic models of different reaction schemes. The obtained rate equations for methanol, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide can be used to design reformer and some simulated design results and applications in fuel cell will be discussed.