Multi-scale microchannel processing and hydrogen production performance of microreactors for methanol reforming

The methanol reforming microreactor has the advantages of small size, high efficiency, and high safety and is one of the main ways of online hydrogen production. Considering the catalyst of traditional microchannel reactors falloff quite easily, this study designs and manufactures a microchannel with a secondary structure to address this problem. First, the base structure of the microchannel was processed by wire cut electrical discharge machining (WEDM), and then a reticulated secondary structure having a depth of 30 μm and a width of 50 μm was processed on the substrate of the microchannel by laser beam machining (LBM). In this study, the catalyst loading strength of the microchannel with a secondary structure was tested, and the influence of the secondary structure on the static performance of the catalyst was studied. Finally, hydrogen production experiments were carried out on microchannels with a secondary structure, and the influence of the secondary structure on hydrogen production performance and hydrogen production stability at different flow rates and temperatures was determined.