(491c) Numerical Investigation of the Kinetics of Methane Dry Reforming at Low Temperature | AIChE

(491c) Numerical Investigation of the Kinetics of Methane Dry Reforming at Low Temperature

Authors 

Wang, H. - Presenter, University of California Irvine
Kim, S., University of California, Irvine
Sasmaz, E., University of California, Irvine
Dry reforming of methane (DRM) over Ni-based supported catalysts at relatively low temperature (500°C-700°C) has been widely studied owing to the low cost and abundant of Ni. To increase the activity and stability of the catalysts, many groups have focused on modifying Ni-based catalysts with small amount of noble metals. Recent studies reported the effect of morphology on the activity of the yolk-shell structured catalysts under DRM, suggesting the possible solution to maintaining high catalysts performance under low temperature by tuning the catalyst structure. However, the reaction mechanisms of the DRM over the yolk-shell catalyst remain unclear. Here, we studied the reaction kinetics by proposing detailed elementary reaction mechanisms of DRM over NiCe@SiO2 multi-yolk-shell nanotube catalyst. We investigated the formation of 12 surface species, and simulated the kinetics of 17 elementary steps of DRM, reverse water-gas shift, methane decomposition, and carbon gasification in a fixed-bed reactor using COMSOL Multiphysics®. The result shows CO2 and CH4 conversion of 14% and 8.1%, respectively, and the CO yield of 10% at the initial stage of the reaction. This matches well with the experiments. The model also shows that the adsorption of CO2 and CH4 can be determined as the rate limiting steps, which is consistent with the widely accepted Langmuir-Hinshelwood mechanism. The surface dissociation of CH3*, CH2*, and CH* are fast, compared with the adsorption of CH4, which improve the production of H2 by pushing the equilibrium of CH4 decomposition to the forward direction. The dissociative adsorption of CO2 and the production of CO* have a significant effect on CO production. Our model suggests O* is the primary deactivating surface species in the process, likely by occupying oxygen vacancies in the catalyst structure. Insights drawn from this work can lead to the design of high-performance DRM catalysts.