Influence of a reaction mixture streamline on partial oxidation of methane in an asymmetric microchannel reactor

•A new design of the asymmetric microreactor was proposed.•Effect of the channel geometry on the POM was investigated.•Hydrogen production does not depend on the inlet geometry.•The hydrogen production rate of the microreactor was 15 l/h.

Partial oxidation of methane (POM) has been tested in an asymmetric microchannel reactor with different inlet configurations. One inlet of the reactor provided successive splitting of an inlet flow into parallel channels, whereas the opposite inlet allowed the inlet flow to enter the parallel channels simultaneously. It was found that concentrations of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide changed by 20–30% and the conversion of methane changed by 5–20%, depending on the rate and direction of the inlet flow. The hydrogen production rate practically did not depend on the inlet configuration and equaled 15 l/h at the inlet flow rates from 600 to 1400 cm3/min and at the methane conversion of 80%. The data obtained demonstrated that the use of different operating modes of the asymmetric microreactor allows changing the composition of produced syngas.