Design equations of the reactor

In the packed-bed reactor, the reactant gases react in the presence of the catalyst particles. This is a multi-step process involving adsorption of the reactants onto the catalyst surface, reaction on the active sites, and then desorption of the product molecules. The slowest step (called the rate-limiting step ) determines the reaction rate for this process and is determined experimentally. 

Hydrogen Carbon Dioxide Carbon Monoxide Water 

The steady-state model equations for each species in the reactor are given by the following mole-balance equations (Fogler, 2006)  

The reactions to form hydrogen are typically endothermic reactions and hence it is generally necessary to provide energy to the reactor from an external source. A steady-state energy balance on the reformer leads to the following equation (Fogler, 2006)  

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