Bioinspired monolithic catalyst support based on triply periodic minimal surfaces for catalytic microreactors: A case study of hydrogen production

Microreactor is an important research direction to realize sustainability in the chemical industry and catalyst supports play a crucial role. In the present study, we mathematically construct three bioinspired triply periodic minimal surfaces (TPMSs) as monolithic catalyst supports for methanol reforming in hydrogen production and compare them to a micro-pin structure. We conduct an in-depth study on the characteristics of flow, heat and mass transfer and catalytic performance on four catalyst supports by establishing a numerical model. We also explore the influences of flow rate, S/C (Steam/Carbon) mole ratio, and temperature on the methanol reforming performance in detail. Our results demonstrate the TPMS structures effectively enhance the heat and mass transfer processes (max similar to 129.6%) as well as catalytic performance (max similar to 44.7%) of micro-pin under identical operating conditions. It can be expected that with the evolution of additive manufacturing, programmable and customized TPMS catalyst supports will offer significant improvements in the performances of microreactors.