A comparative study between operability of fluidized-bed and fixed-bed reactors to produce synthesis gas through tri-reforming

•Fluidized-bed reactor has been suggested as a suitable candidate for syngas production.•The fixed-bed and fluidized-bed tri-reformer configurations for syngas production are modeled heterogeneously.•The obtained data are validated by a pilot plant.•1.2% and 6% enhancement in the methane conversion and CO2 consumption obtained in fluidized-bed tri-reformer reactor, respectively.

Fluidized-bed reactor has been suggested as a suitable candidate for syngas production due to its special advantages such as elimination of pressure drop problem and bad temperature profile distribution. In this study the fixed-bed and fluidized-bed tri-reformer configurations to produce syngas are modeled heterogeneously based on the conservation mass and energy balances. The obtained data are validated by a pilot plant. Then the operability and performance of considered configurations is compared at steady state condition. This comparison reveals 1.2% and 6% enhancement in the methane conversion and CO2 consumption in fluidized-bed tri-reformer reactor, respectively, which mainly result from the fact that fluidized-bed reactor presents more effective temperature management and smaller pressure drop in comparison with the fixed-bed reactor. An increase in methane conversion, hydrogen yield and CO2 consumption as well as a decline in hot spot temperature in the catalytic bed shows the superiority of fluidized-bed tri-reformer reactor for producing synthesis gas.