Design, fabricaton, and testing of a compact quasi-isothermal PROX reactor using micro heat exchangers

Identifier

etd-11052007-184025

Author

Curtis Maurice Hebert, Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical CollegeFollow

Degree

Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME)

Department

Mechanical Engineering

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

A two stage PROX reactor with micro heat exchangers was designed, built, and tested to demonstrate the ability to control the temperature in the reactor and improve PROX performance in terms of CO conversion and selectivity. The gas stream was composed of 40% H₂, 1% CO, 9% CO₂, 0.5% O₂, and 49.5% Ar. Metal foams were used to support a 5 wt% Pt/0.5 wt% Fe/γ-Al₂O₃ catalyst. Two sections of foam catalyst were used with heat exchangers positioned before and after each section. The resulting axial temperature profile of the gas stream showed an expected temperature rise in the catalyst beds and a sudden drop in the heat exchangers. The heat exchangers were successful in reducing the gas temperature to within 4 °C of the coolant fluid at gas stream linear velocities of 60 cm/sec over a 3 mm axial distance when the upstream gas temperature was over 250 °C greater than that of the coolant. Results consistently showed an improvement in CO selectivity due to the efficient removal of heat.

Date

2007

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Recommended Citation

Hebert, Curtis Maurice, "Design, fabricaton, and testing of a compact quasi-isothermal PROX reactor using micro heat exchangers" (2007). LSU Master's Theses. 738.
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/738

Committee Chair

Kevin Kelly

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_theses.738