Modeling and simulation of hydrogen production from dimethyl ether steam reforming using exhaust gas

In this paper, hydrogen production from steam reforming of DME (dimethyl ether) has been modeled and simulated using a CFD (computational fluid dynamics) method. The reformation chemistry occurs in a porous catalytic bed where exhaust gas is supplied through the EGR (exhaust gas recycling) valve of the engine to drive the endothermic reaction system. The tightly coupled system of mass, energy, and momentum equations are used to describe the complex physical and chemical process of DME steam reforming. The global reaction kinetics for the reforming is adopted in the CFD model. The mathematical models are introduced into the commercial software Comsol, and then numerical simulations are also performed based on this model. The model predictions are quantitatively validated by experiment data. The simulation results indicate the temperature distribution, mass distribution, DME conversion, and hydrogen production from steam reforming of DME. In addition, the fuel to steam ratio and velocity of exhaust gas are manipulated as operating parameters. These simulation results will provide helpful data to design and operate a bench scale catalytic fluidized bed reactor. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.