(Solar) Mixed Reforming of Methane: Potential and Limits in Utilizing CO 2 as Feedstock for Syngas Production—A Thermodynamic Analysis

Henrik Von Storch, Sonja Becker-Hardt and Christian Sattler
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Henrik Von Storch: Solar Chemical Engineering, Institute of Solar Research, German Aerospace Center (DLR), 51147 Leitung Köln-Porz, Germany
Sonja Becker-Hardt: Solar Chemical Engineering, Institute of Solar Research, German Aerospace Center (DLR), 51147 Leitung Köln-Porz, Germany
Christian Sattler: Solar Chemical Engineering, Institute of Solar Research, German Aerospace Center (DLR), 51147 Leitung Köln-Porz, Germany

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 10, 1-14

Abstract: The reforming of natural gas with steam and CO 2 is commonly referred to as mixed reforming and considered a promising route to utilize CO 2 in the production of synthetic fuels and base chemicals such as methanol. In the present study, the mixed reforming reaction is assessed regarding its potential to effectively utilize CO 2 in such processes based on simple thermodynamic models. Requirements for the mixed reforming reactions based on process considerations are defined. These are the avoidance of carbon formation in the reactor, high conversion of the valuable inlet streams CH 4 and CO 2 as well as a suitable syngas composition for subsequent synthesis. The syngas composition is evaluated based on the module M = ( z H 2 − z CO 2 ) / ( z CO 2 + z CO ) , which should assume a value close to 2. A large number of different configurations regarding CO 2 /H 2 O/CH 4 at the reactor inlet, operating pressure and outlet temperature are simulated and evaluated according to the defined requirements. The results show that the actual potential of the mixed reforming reaction to utilize CO 2 as feedstock for fuels and methanol is limited to approximately 0.35 CO 2 /CH 4 , which is significantly lower than suggested in literature. At 900 °C and 7 bar at the reactor outlet, which is seen suitable for solar reforming, a ratio of H 2 O/CH 4 of 1.4 can be set and the resulting value of M is 1.92 (CO 2 /CO/H 2 = 0.07/0.4/1).

Keywords: methane reforming; solar reforming; CO 2 utilization; carbon formation; solar fuels; concentrated solar power (CSP) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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