Study on a compact reactor for methane steam reforming in fuel cell systems

A compact integrated reactor, in which reactant vaporization, methane steam reforming, and combustion are all integrated, was developed. The reactor, corrugate plates in both reforming chamber and combustion chamber were used to enhance heat transfer of the reformer, offer high methane conversion ratio, and efficiency. The effects of the ratio of water/methane on the performance of the reactor were studied, and the distribution of reactants in different chambers was analyzed. In this 4 L-volume reactor, the hydrogen content was 76%, and the hydrogen output in reforming gas was about 2.3 N cu m H2/hr. The catalyst developed for methane steam reforming could be operated continuously with 100% conversion in > 1500 hr. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the AiChE Spring National Meeting & 5th Global Congress on Process Safety (Tampa, FL 4/26-30/2009).