Dry reforming of methane in a direct irradiated solar powered system: Process design and optimisation

Lavan Maharaj and David Lokhat

Applied Energy, 2025, vol. 377, issue PB, No S0306261924019196

Abstract: This study investigates the dry reforming of methane (DRM) using solar energy to produce syngas at a pilot-scale level. A combined waste gas stream from a prominent South African petrochemical complex is considered as the system feed. A cryogenic distillation column operated at 30 bar with ceramic Berl saddle packing is found suitable for the initial removal of hydrogen sulfide from the waste gas stream. A shallow cross-flow fluidised bed reactor is optimised using available literature guidelines and ASPEN Plus simulation software. A nickel alumina catalyst is chosen for its efficiency, availability and affordability. A Langmuir Hinshelwood Houston Watson (LHHW) kinetic model closely matches experimental data for the applicable reaction kinetics. Results show a 93.55 % CH4 conversion, yielding syngas with 7.42 mol% CO and 7.43 mol% H2. An operating temperature of 800 °C is found to be optimal and requires a solar energy supply of 8.37 kW.

Keywords: Dry reforming of methane (DRM); Syngas production; Solar energy utilisation; Cross-flow fluidised bed reactor; Dry reforming of methane catalysis; Sustainable energy conversion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261924019196
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:377:y:2025:i:pb:s0306261924019196

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 405891/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.124536

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Energy is currently edited by J. Yan

More articles in Applied Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().