Modeling of a micro-scale heat exchanger reactor for portable hydrogen production

A one-dimensional steady-state model describing heat convection and conduction was used to study the effects of key kinetic, fluid, and solid phase properties upon thermal efficiency and reactor conversion. The key groups that most influence the heat exchanger reactor performance and the existence of steady state multiplicity were determined. The use of high thermal conductivity materials, e.g., silicon, stainless steel, limited the thermal efficiency due to significant axial conduction losses, ultimately leading to isothermal-slab behavior. Low thermal conductivity materials, e.g., cordierite ceramics, yielded superior thermal efficiencies, resulting from development of temperatures gradients along the solid phase axial length. The use of adiabatic packaging presented higher thermal efficiencies. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the AIChE Annual Meeting (Salt Lake, UT 11/4-9/2007).

Modeling of a micro-scale heat exchanger reactor for portable hydrogen production Conference Paper