Sensitivity Analysis of High-Pressure Methanol—Steam Reformer Using the Condensation Enthalpy of Water Vapor

A methanol–steam reformer (MSR) can safely provide hydrogen-rich fuel for a fuel cell system. Since the operating temperature of an MSR is relatively low, convective heat transfer is typically used to provide thermal energy to the endothermic reactions in the MSR. In this study, the use of phase cha...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energies (Basel) 2022-05, Vol.15 (10), p.3832
Main Authors: Yu, Dongjin, Kim, Byoungjae, Ji, Hyunjin, Yu, Sangseok
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Carbon monoxide
Comparative analysis
condensation heat transfer
Convective heat transfer
double pipe heat exchanger
Efficiency
Endothermic reactions
Energy
Fuel cells
Fuel technology
Heat transfer
Hydrogen
Inlet temperature
Latent heat
Membrane reactors
methanol–steam-reforming
Nuclear fuels
Operating temperature
Performance evaluation
Phase change
phase change materials
Pipes
Reforming
Sensible heat
sensitivity analyses
Sensitivity analysis
Simulation
Steam
Temperature
Thermal energy
Wall temperature
Water vapor
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Summary:A methanol–steam reformer (MSR) can safely provide hydrogen-rich fuel for a fuel cell system. Since the operating temperature of an MSR is relatively low, convective heat transfer is typically used to provide thermal energy to the endothermic reactions in the MSR. In this study, the use of phase change heat transfer to provide thermal energy to the endothermic reactions was investigated, which enhanced the temperature uniformity longitudinally along the MSR. ANSYS Fluent® software was used to investigate the performance of the reforming reactions. A comparative analysis using sensible heat and latent heat as the heat supply sources was performed. Using latent heat as a heat source achieved a lesser temperature drop than sensible heat that was under 5.29 K in the outer pipe. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis of methanol–steam-reforming reactions that use phase change heat transfer in terms of the carbon ratio, gas hourly velocity (for the inner and outer pipes of the MSR), inlet temperature (inner and outer pipes), reactor length, and operating pressure (inner pipe) was performed. When the phase change energy of water vapor is used, the wall temperature of the MSR is conveniently controlled and is uniformly distributed along the channel (standard deviation: 0.81 K). Accordingly, the methanol conversion rate of an MSR that uses phase change energy is ~4% higher than that of an MSR that employs convective heat transfer.
ISSN:1996-1073
1996-1073
DOI:10.3390/en15103832