Model Development for Steam Reformers

Industrial steam reformers are usually fixed-bed reactors. Their performance is strongly affected by the heat transfer from the furnace to the catalyst tubes. We will model both top-fired and side-fired configurations. 

The tubes are loaded with industrial catalyst pellets which usually are nickel catalysts. In the mass-balance equations, methane and carbon dioxide are the key components and their conversion and yield are defined respectively as 

The single reactor tube performance is representative of any other tube in the furnace. 

We assume a one dimensional model for mass, heat, and momentum transfer. This means that the composition, heat, and pressure is uniform at any cross section of the catalyst bed in the reformer tubes. 

16Friedrich August (Fritz) Raschig, German chemist, 1863-1928 

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Model development for steam reformers Modelling of side fired furnaces Modelling of top fired furnaces Modelling of methanators Modelling of the catalyst pellets for steam reformers and methanators using the dusty gas model Computational algorithm... 

The models developed for steam reformers have been checked against a number of industrial units in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The comparison of the models with industrial reactors is supplemented with the comparison of the different models for a case which is far from thermodynamic equilibrium. A sample of the results for the two industrial steam reformers (1, II) are presented. 

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