TY - JOUR
T1 - Critical Damkhöler number for the thermal decomposition of methane gas in a fluid-wall aerosol flow reactor
AU - Sánchez, S.
AU - Méndez, F.
AU - Bautista, O.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work has been supported by the research Grant 20131524 of SIP-IPN in Mexico .
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - In this work, a theoretical analysis is carried out to predict the thermal decomposition of methane to hydrogen and carbon black occurring in a fluid-wall aerosol flow reactor. The mathematical formulation takes into account that the involved physical properties in the thermal decomposition process are temperature-dependent. The governing equations (mass, momentum, energy and species conservation) were nondimensionalized and simplified in order to be solved numerically. We show that the maximum conversion of methane to hydrogen occurs for a well-defined reactor length, which can be found in dimensionless form, as a characteristic Damkhöler number. This dimensionless parameter represents the competition between residence to reactive times and for the present formulation is an eigenvalue of the problem. In addition, the numerical results show that considering thermal-dependent properties modify the evolution of the thermal decomposition process in a substantial manner.
AB - In this work, a theoretical analysis is carried out to predict the thermal decomposition of methane to hydrogen and carbon black occurring in a fluid-wall aerosol flow reactor. The mathematical formulation takes into account that the involved physical properties in the thermal decomposition process are temperature-dependent. The governing equations (mass, momentum, energy and species conservation) were nondimensionalized and simplified in order to be solved numerically. We show that the maximum conversion of methane to hydrogen occurs for a well-defined reactor length, which can be found in dimensionless form, as a characteristic Damkhöler number. This dimensionless parameter represents the competition between residence to reactive times and for the present formulation is an eigenvalue of the problem. In addition, the numerical results show that considering thermal-dependent properties modify the evolution of the thermal decomposition process in a substantial manner.
KW - Damkhöler number
KW - Hydrogen
KW - Methane
KW - Thermal decomposition
KW - Tubular reactor
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84885666117&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.enconman.2013.09.025
DO - 10.1016/j.enconman.2013.09.025
M3 - Artículo
SN - 0196-8904
VL - 77
SP - 152
EP - 162
JO - Energy Conversion and Management
JF - Energy Conversion and Management
ER -