Reactor concept for improved heat integration in autothermal methanol reforming

With regard to mobile applications, the autothermal methanol reforming process as hydrogen source for PEM-fuel cells has advantages compared to the externally heated steam reforming reaction in terms of control and transient behaviour. However, thermal (hot-spot) control of the autothermal process turns out to be the key issue for scale-up in order to ensure selectivity, catalyst stability and process safety. Therefore, a novel reactor concept based on flow redirection around catalytically coated plates has been developed. It shows a low pressure drop, improves heat integration and solves the scale-up problem of autothermal processes like autothermal methanol reforming. These improvements have been shown in experiments using Cu/Zn/Al2O3Cu/Zn/Al2O3 as catalyst.