Insights into the effect of catalyst loading on methane steam reforming and controlling regime for metallic catalytic monoliths

M. Arsalan Ashraf, Oihane Sanz, Mario Montes, Stefania Specchia

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37 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

The influence of Ru/La–Al2O3 catalyst loading (100–200 mg) was investigated over high cell density Fecralloy® monoliths (461 cpsi, 1367 cpsi) for methane steam reforming (SMR). A uniform and well-attached catalyst layer was developed by in-situ washcoating method and the developed catalysts were analyzed by using various physico-chemical characterization techniques. The results confirmed the impact of catalyst loading on the geometric and hydraulic properties of monoliths, and methane conversion was improved by increasing both the catalyst loading and cell density. As per characteristic time analysis, no external and washcoat diffusion regimes were observed and SMR was found to be in kinetic controlling regime. The methane conversion was still limited by the amount of catalyst (200 mg) deposited onto the monoliths (40.9 μm for 461 cpsi, 26.9 μm for 1367 cpsi) which demonstrated the potential to deposit more catalyst up to the transition point of washcoat diffusion limitations. For same washcoat thickness of ∼20.6 μm, the higher cell density 1367 cpsi monolith showed better catalytic activity towards SMR as compared to 461 cpsi monolith and this improvement is more prominent at lower temperature with a value of 13.6% higher methane conversion at 600 °C, WHSV = 55 NL h−1 gcat −1 and S/C = 3.0.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)11778-11792
Number of pages15
JournalInternational Journal of Hydrogen Energy
Volume43
Issue number26
Early online date30 May 2018
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 28 Jun 2018

Funding

The authors acknowledge the Italian Ministry of Education, University, and Research ( PRIN IFOAMS n. 2010XFT2BB , the Basque Government ( IT1069-16 ), the Spanish MINECO/FEDER ( ENE2015-66975-C3-3-R and CTQ2015-73901-JIN ), and the FP7 European program with the related national organisms ( ERANETMED ENERG-11-065 SOL-CARE ) for the financial support. Appendix A

Keywords

  • Fecralloy washcoated monoliths
  • High cell density
  • Hydrogen production
  • Kinetic regime
  • Ru/La–AlO catalyst

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
  • Fuel Technology
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Energy Engineering and Power Technology

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