Process intensification of dry reforming of methane by structured catalytic wall-plate microreactor

Abstract Dry reforming of methane (DRM) for syngas production has gained much attention because of its significant potential in greenhouse gas reduction and economic efficiency over steam reforming. The practical application of DRM has been hindered by problems of coking in cold spots, coking-induced blockage and pressure loss in the catalyst packed beds. The previous works developed a packed bed type microreactor with a blow-through channel, namely a catalytic wall-plate microreactor (CWPMR) to solve those problems. However, it did not outperform the conventional tubular packed bed reactor. Objective of this study is to process-intensify DRM by structuring CWPMR. A void space and micro-baffle were formed in the packed layer and in the blow-through channel, respectively. This study proposed the micro-structure to enhance convective heat and mass transfer, and resultant reaction efficiency. Particle-resolved CFD simulations verified the favorable effects of the micro-structure on flow distribution in CWPMR. Reaction experiments showed that the micro-structured CWPMR significantly outperformed the conventional reactor and reduced carbon deposition with the identical catalyst loading.