Sensitivity Analysis of High-Pressure Methanol—Steam Reformer Using the Condensation Enthalpy of Water Vapor

Dongjin Yu, Byoungjae Kim, Hyunjin Ji and Sangseok Yu
Additional contact information
Dongjin Yu: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School, Chungnam National University, 99 Daehangno, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34134, Korea
Byoungjae Kim: School of Mechanical Engineering, Chungnam National University, 99 Daehangno, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34134, Korea
Hyunjin Ji: Agency for Defense Development, Yuseong-gu, P.O. Box 35-44, Daejeon 34186, Korea
Sangseok Yu: School of Mechanical Engineering, Chungnam National University, 99 Daehangno, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34134, Korea

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 10, 1-18

Abstract: A methanol–steam reformer (MSR) can safely provide hydrogen-rich fuel for a fuel cell system. Since the operating temperature of an MSR is relatively low, convective heat transfer is typically used to provide thermal energy to the endothermic reactions in the MSR. In this study, the use of phase change heat transfer to provide thermal energy to the endothermic reactions was investigated, which enhanced the temperature uniformity longitudinally along the MSR. ANSYS Fluent ® software was used to investigate the performance of the reforming reactions. A comparative analysis using sensible heat and latent heat as the heat supply sources was performed. Using latent heat as a heat source achieved a lesser temperature drop than sensible heat that was under 5.29 K in the outer pipe. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis of methanol–steam-reforming reactions that use phase change heat transfer in terms of the carbon ratio, gas hourly velocity (for the inner and outer pipes of the MSR), inlet temperature (inner and outer pipes), reactor length, and operating pressure (inner pipe) was performed. When the phase change energy of water vapor is used, the wall temperature of the MSR is conveniently controlled and is uniformly distributed along the channel (standard deviation: 0.81 K). Accordingly, the methanol conversion rate of an MSR that uses phase change energy is ~4% higher than that of an MSR that employs convective heat transfer.

Keywords: methanol–steam-reforming; sensitivity analyses; phase change materials; double pipe heat exchanger; condensation heat transfer (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: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/10/3832/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/10/3832/ (text/html)

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:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:10:p:3832-:d:821939

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().