Reactor integrated heat-exchangers

Chart Industries (US) Integrated heat exchangers and reactors for numerous applications... 

Rebrov, E. V., de Croon, M. H. J. M., ScHOUTEN, J. C., Design of a micro-structured reactor with integrated heat-exchanger for optimum performance of highly exothermic reaction, Catal. Today 69 (2001) 183-192. 

Heat can be removed from or added to a reactor through heat exchange across the walls. For an integral reactor we write the rate of heat removal from the reactor Q as... 

Thonon B, Mercier P. Flow structure, thermal and hydraulic performances of compact geometries used as integrated heat exchanger reactor. Process Intensification Conference, Antwerp, October 1999. 

Simulation of the Effect of Integrating Heat-exchange Capabilities into Water-gas Shift Reactors... 

Preferential Carbon Monoxide Oxidation 5 [PrOx 5] Integrated Heat Exchanger/Reactor for PrOx... 

For reformate flow rates up to 400 Ndm3 min-1, the CO output was determined as < 12 ppm for simulated methanol. The reactors were operated at full load (20 kW equivalent power output) for -100 h without deactivation. In connection with the 20 kW methanol reformer, the CO output of the two final reactors was < 10 ppm for more than 2 h at a feed concentration of 1.6% carbon monoxide. Because the reformer was realized as a combination of steam reformer and catalytic burner in the plate and fin design as well, this may be regarded as an impressive demonstration of the capabilities of the integrated heat exchanger design for fuel processors in the kilowatt range. 

The aim of the work was to develop a methanol fuel processor for a 50 kW automobile engine. An integrated heat exchanger/reactor was fabricated and results were presented by Hermann et al. [120] of GM/OPEL. The specifications for the system were ambitious, amongst others ... 

Integrated Systems Fuelled by Methanol 11 [ISMol 11] Micro Integrated Heat Exchanger/Fixed-bed Reactor for Methanol Steam Reforming... 

Tonkovich and coworkers [42—47] used packed bed microreactors for the production of hydrogen. The authors constructed a reactor consisting of stacked stainless steel plates for the partial oxidation of methane [42]. The microchannels (which were 254 pm wide, 1500 pm deep, and 35 mm long) were filled with mesoporous silica that was impregnated with rhodium. The reactor plates were sandwiched between two integrated heat exchanger plates. 

Energy integration is achieved by using steam produced by the reactor effluent heat exchanger (4) in the methanol evaporator (10) and in the boiler feed water preheater (11). Typical product specifications are given in Table 3.20. Twelve commercial units based on this process technology have been built, while three additional units are under construction [9]. 

An integrated heat exchanger-reactor for methanol steam reforming was developed by Hermann et al. [65] at GM/OPEL for a 50 kW methanol fuel processor. The system specifications included a volumetric power density of more than 5 kW dm, a gravimetric power density of more than 2.5 kWkg and a transient response to load changes from 10 to 90% in milliseconds. 

By using integrated heat exchangers, researchers at PNNL [27] were able to control the temperature of a microstmctured WGS reactor and impose a near-optimal temperature profile, rather than operating the reactor as two sequential adiabatic units (Figure 26.5). The first section of the reactor, operated adiabatically, consisted of increasing the reactor temperature, while the second section was cooled to follow as closely as possible the optimal temperature profile. This way of operating the reactor resulted in a reduction in the reactor size by a factor of 2. If the reaction rate is expressed in the form of a power law ... 

By using integrated heat exchangers, researchers at PNNL [64[ were able to control the temperature of a microstructured WGS reactor and impose a near optimal temperature profile, thus reducing the size of the unit by a factor of two. 

Catalysts from Siid Chemie were chosen for methanol steam reforming by Cremers et al. [100]. Because the catalyst activity was relatively low, a micro fixed-bed reactor was built with integrated heat exchanging capabilities. The reactor contained 60 micro fixed-bed passages, which took up 15.9 g of catalyst and 62 heating passages. The reactor was designed to produce... 

Dokupil et al. [129] described a monolithic preferential oxidation reactor operated at 100°C temperature and 15 000h GHSV. It carried an integrated heat exchanger to improve its thermal management. 

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