Coal mine ventilation air methane combustion in a catalytic reverse flow reactor: Influence of emission humidity

• Langmuir–Hinshelwood model predicts water inhibition of methane catalytic combustion.
• Operational thermal stability of the RFR affected by water inhibition
• Mathematical model proposed and validated with bench-scale experimental data
• Water effect overcome increasing methane concentration or decreasing switching time.

The role of the humidity content on the performance of catalytic reverse flow reactors (RFRs) for the abatement of methane emissions from coal mines is studied in this manuscript. It has been demonstrated that this technique is very useful for the abatement, and even upgrading, of these emissions. However, the effect of humidity on the reactor performance has not been addressed yet, in spite of being well known that water is an inhibitor in catalytic combustion.Experimental studies in a lab-scale isothermal fixed bed reactor demonstrated that water decreases the activity of a palladium on alumina catalyst for the combustion of methane, but this inhibition is entirely reversible, results fitting well to a Langmuir–Hinshelwood kinetic model. Then, the influence of water was studied in a bench-scale RFR operating at near adiabatic conditions at different switching times (100–600 s) and methane feed concentrations (2700–7200 ppm). Finally, a mathematical model for the reverse flow reactor, including the kinetic model with water inhibition, has been validated using the experimental results. This model is of key importance for designing this type of reactors for the treatment of mine ventilation emissions.