Fast Design and Numerical Simulation of a Metal Hydride Reactor Embedded in a Conventional Shell-and-Tube Heat Exchanger

The purpose of this work is to present a convenient design approach for metal hydride reactors that meet the specific requirements for hydrogen storage. Three methods from the literature, the time scale, the acceptable envelope, and the reaction front, are used to estimate the maximum thickness of the bed allowing for sufficient heat transfer. Further heat transfer calculations are performed within the framework of standardized heat exchanger via the homemade design software, to generate the complete geometry and dimensions of the reactor. LaNi5 material packed in tubular units based on conventional shell-and-tube heat exchanger is selected for analysis for an expected charging time of 500 s, 1000 s, and 1500 s. Apparently, the smaller the expected charging time, the smaller the bed thickness and hence the diameter of the tubular units. After comparison, the method of reaction front was adopted to output standard tube diameters and calculate the weight of the reactor. Significant weight differences were found to result from the varying wall thickness and number of tubes. In general, the shorter the expected charging time, the more tubular units with a small diameter will be built and the heavier the reactor. Fluent 2022 R2 was used to solve the reactor model with a tube diameter of 50 mm supposed to fulfill a charging time of 1500 s. The simulation results revealed that the reaction fraction reaches its maximum and the hydrogen storage process is completed at 500 s. However, because the calculation is conducted on meeting the heat exchange requirements, the average temperature of the bed layer is close to the initial temperature of 290 K and stops changing at 1500 s. The applicability of the method to the design of metal hydride reactors is thus confirmed by the temperature and reaction fraction judgment criteria.