Abstract
An alternative process for hydrogen production through steam methane reforming (SMR), based on the concept of adsorption-enhanced reaction, is studied. The newly proposed process consists of a reactor/adsorber unit and regeneration (desorption) unit. The novelty of this approach is the use of a stationary SMR catalyst phase, through which adsorbent flows for the in-situ and selective removal of CO 2. Adsorbent regeneration is carried out ex-situ, and hot regenerated adsorbent passed back to the reactor unit. A mathematical model, accounting for general reaction kinetics, mass transfer limited adsorption kinetics, and non-linear (Langmuirian) adsorption equilibria, is developed. Packed bed and monolith catalyst structures are considered, and appropriate particle and gas flow models through such structures are evaluated. The feasibility of new adsorbent and catalyst materials currently being developed are evaluated. The results of the theoretical evaluation of this new reactor concept are presented. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 7th World Congress of Chemical Engineering (Glasgow, Scotland 7/10-14/2005).