Partial oxidation and dry reforming of methane

As a consequence, SMR is a very expensive process (in a methanol synthesis plant, the cost of the reformer is about 60% of the total cost), and only the current price of natural gas, with an uncertain future, can compensate the overall energy demand of the process. In this context, new processes for the production of hydrogen from methane, at lower energy costs, are needed, and the partial oxidation of methane (POM) is an attractive alternative  

Besides POM, research into another reformer reaction has also been of interest COg reforming (dry reforming)  

A more suitable approach is the combination of the exothermic POM with one of the exothermic reactions (SRM or/and CO2 reforming) in a similar way to that carried out in ATR. If the reactants (CH4 -t O2 -t HgO or CH4 -t O2 + CO2 or CH4 -t Og -t HgO -I- COg) are combined at the appropriate proportions, the process is autothermal and there are no problems of heat exchange (it is not necessary to release it or provide it). Along these lines, Ghoudhary et investigated the activity of a NiCoMgCeOx/zirconia- 

F re 8.3 Equilibrium calculations for the POM reaction as a function of the temperature, at atmospheric pressure and 20 atm (solid line). Squares correspond to experimental results using nickel-based catalysts. 

Since several supported catalytic systems have sufficient activity for the POM reaction, the main topic of research is the stability of the catalysts. There are two main processes for the deactivation of the catalyst carbon deposition and sintering of the metal. Carbon deposition is due to the process of decomposition of CH4 and CO (reactions (8.3) and (8.4)). Two different kinds of carbon can be formed in the surface of the catalyst encapsulated carbon, which covers the metal particle and is the reason for physical-chemical deactivation and whiskers of carbon, which do not deactivate the particle directly but may produce mechanical plugging of the catalytic bed. 

This is an exothermic reaction, and therefore, no energy is required (it is produced) there is no water to be overheated, and the stoichiometric H2/CO ratio of the syngas produced is 2, the optimum value for possible downstream processes. These characteristics, together with increasing 

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