Methane, reaction with steam, heterogeneous

To exemplify a complex mechanism of a heterogeneous catalytic reaction, we will consider the interaction of methane with steam on a nickel surface. Stoichiometric equations for this reaction are... 

Most organic chemicals are currently made commercially iixim ethylene, a product of oil lehning. It is possible that in the next several decades we may have to shift toward other carbon sources for these chemicals as depletion of our oil reserves continues. Either coal or natural gas (methane) can be converted into CO/Hz mixtures with mr and steam (Eq. 12.18), and it is possible to convert such mixtures, variously called water-gas or synthesis gas to methanol (Eq. 12.18) and to allume fuels with various heterogeneous catadysts. In particular, the Fischer-Tropsch reaction (Eq. 12.19) converts synthesis gas to a mixture of long-chain alkanes and alcohols using heterogeneous catalysts. 

Three different versions of the basic one dimensional model were developed, two heterogeneous models and a pseudo-homogeneous model. The difference in the two heterogeneous models is the way the sorbent was installed in the reactor bed. One model version considers that Li2Zr03 and the reforming catalyst are coated on two different particles, while in the other case there is one particle with both catalytic and capture properties. The steam methane reforming and the water-gas shift reaction kinetics are taken from Xu and Proment [14], but corrected for different properties of the catalyst. 

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