A micro-reactor with micro-pin-fin arrays for hydrogen production via methanol steam reforming

To enhance the compactness of the micro-reactors for hydrogen production via methanol steam reforming (SMR) for fuel cell, a novel micro-reactor with micro-pin-fin arrays (MPFAR) is designed and fabricated based on the micro thixo-forming technology. A three-dimensional model is adopted in the numerical analysis to investigate the heat and mass transfer in the micro-reactor. The results show that the methanol conversion in the MPFAR is higher than that in a micro-channel reactor, the velocity and temperature distribution is uniform in the catalyst support. Higher reaction temperature and contact time result in higher methanol conversion and CO molar fraction at the outlet, while a higher steam to methanol (S C−1) molar ratio results in a lower CO molar fraction. Finally, experiments are conducted to test the performance of the MPFAR for hydrogen production. The experimental results agree well with the simulated ones, which validate the accuracy of the simulation model. When the S C−1 molar ratio and the contact time are 1.2 and 0.12 s, respectively, the methanol conversion of the MPFAR reaches to 87.5% with the hydrogen molar fraction of about 75% at the outlet, which is suitable for the application in the fuel cell system.

► We design a novel micro-reactor with micro-pin-fin arrays.
► We fabricate the micro-reactor based on micro thixo-forming technology.
► We explore the effect of thermo-fluid parameters on the micro-reactor performance.
► Methanol conversion of the micro-reactor has advantages over a micro-channel reactor.