Study of the Performance of Hydrogen Production by Autothermal Steam Reforming as Dimethyl Ether in a Fan-Shaped Channel Reactor

As a clean energy source, hydrogen is one ideal energy carrier and is widely used in the automotive industry. Onboard in situ hydrogen production can effectively solve the problems of difficult hydrogen storage and transportation, weak safety, and low hydrogen storage rate. In this paper, a mathematical model of the dimethyl ether autothermal steam reforming hydrogen production system was established and solved, and the accuracy of the model was verified by experiments. The effects of operating parameters and reactor structural parameters on dimethyl ether conversion rate, thermal efficiency, and hydrogen mass fraction were analyzed. The results showed that the dimethyl ether autothermal steam reforming hydrogen production reactor with a fan-shaped channel design has a dimethyl ether conversion rate of 94.5%, hydrogen mass fraction of 7.7827%, thermal efficiency of 55.13%, and reforming bed outlet temperature difference controlled within 20 K.