(685a) Design and Analysis of Electrically Heated Reactors for Endothermic Chemistries

We present and analyze various novel modular reactor configurations with electrical resistance heating for carrying out endothermic reactions such as cracking and steam reforming of hydrocarbons. The basic unit of each reactor module consists of a set of wires, tubes, plates, monolith or gauze/wire meshes arranged in parallel or series so as satisfy the current-voltage constraints. The smaller dimensions such as spacing and diameter are selected to obtain nearly uniform heating and temperature within the reaction zone.