The assessment of reformation in a porous medium-catalyst hybrid reformer under excess enthalpy condition

A porous medium-catalyst hybrid reformer for hydrogen-rich syngas production by dry autothermal reforming (DATR) was investigated in this study. In the reforming process, the reaction under excess enthalpy was explored by visualization in packed-bed catalyst reactor. The hybrid design was arranged with a porous medium (PM) in the upstream of the catalyst packed-bed. In the arrangement, the reactants were preheated by internal heat recirculation and the selectivity of H2-rich syngas was enhanced by the catalyst surface reaction. Controlled parameters included CO2/CH4 and O2/CH4 ratios, gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) with or without porous medium. The experimental results demonstrated that the reforming reaction with the hybrid reformer could achieve excess enthalpy under the tested parameters. The excess enthalpy ratio was between 0.15 and 0.55. The temperature measurement along the axial position and image observation of the catalyst packed-bed indicated that the flame was stably held at the interface of the PM and the catalyst bed, and this enhanced fuel conversion and reforming efficiencies, especially in the low methane conversion condition. In the dry autothermal reforming process, part of the chemical energy released from the reaction supplies the energy required for a self-sustaining reaction. Therefore, the selection of the parameters was determined to achieve high reforming efficiency and low energy loss percentage. The results showed that the energy loss percentage was between 12.7 and 24.6% and reforming efficiency was between 64.4 and 79.5% with the best reforming parameter settings (O2/CH4 = 0.7–0.9 and CO2/CH4 = 0.0–2.0).

► A porous medium-catalyst hybrid reformer for hydrogen production was investigated.
► In the arrangement, the reactants were preheated by internal heat recirculation.
► The reaction under excess enthalpy was explored by visualization in reformer.
► In the reforming, the energy released provokes a self-sustaining reaction.
► The excess enthalpy ratio was at 0.15–0.55, reforming efficiency at 64.4–79.5%.