Hydrocarbon Reforming 1 Micro Structured Monoliths for Partial Methane Oxidation

3 Hydrocarbon Reforming 1 [HCR 1] Micro Structured Monoliths for Partial Methane Oxidation 

Mayer et al. [43] used an electrically heated micro heat exchanger, a micro mixer and a honeycomb reactor, all developed by Karlsruhe Research Center (Forschungs-zentrum Karlsruhe), for the partial oxidation of methane  

The authors provided various drivers for the application of micro channels, namely the safe operation of the explosive mixture [44], higher surface to channel volume compared with conventional ceramic monoliths and finally smaller pressure drop compared with packed beds or porous solid foams. 

The reaction takes place at temperatures around 1 000 °C, a pressure of 25 bar and residence times in the order of few to several hundred milliseconds. Conventionally the process is performed with metal-loaded ceramic supports. From calculations, hot-spot formation up to 2320 °C might occur, which was expected to be minimized by the metallic catalyst. 

A feed of 1-10 Ndm3 min-1 composed of 60 vol.% methane, 30 vol.% oxygen and 10 vol.% argon for the standard experiments on partial oxidation was passed through the reactor at an operating pressure between ambient and 25 bar. The activity increased with TOS up to 20 h. At 650 °C reaction temperature, mostly 

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