Methanol Steam Reforming in a Spiral-Shaped Microchannel Reactor over Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 Catalyst: A Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation Study

Abstract Hydrogen production in microchannel reactor by reforming reaction is applied for fuel cells in order to effectively avoid the problem of hydrogen storage. In this study, the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation of methanol steam reforming process was studied for the purpose of producing hydrogen in an annular microchannel coated with Cu/ZnO/Al 2 O 3 catalyst. The modeling mechanism included methanol reforming reaction, methanol decomposition, and water-gas shift reaction. Furthermore, the effects of temperature variations were investigated and the conducted surveys were compared with the experimental results. The simulation results were in good agreement with the experimental data in that the temperature increases at various feed flow rates would lead to enhanced amounts of carbon monoxide and dioxide, while at a constant temperature, the amounts of hydrogen and carbon monoxide and dioxide reduce with increasing feed flow rates.