Thermal coupling of methanol steam reforming and hydrogen combustion to produce fuel cell hydrogen: A comparative theoretical study between membrane and hydrogen-recycled shell-and-tube reactors

Methanol steam reforming (MSR) is one the most interesting routes for production of fuel cell grade hydrogen. As this reaction is endothermic, its energy supply is one of the most important problems. In this line, recycling and burning the unconverted hydrogen exits from the exhaust of the fuel cells on the shell side of a shell-and-tube reactor (HR) has been suggested in the literature as one the energy supply solutions. In this work, the performance of a membrane-assisted shell-and-tube reactor (MR-HCO), in which part of the hydrogen produced by the MSR is continuously transferred to the shell side through the membrane layer and burned to supply energy, is investigated and compared with HR reactor. To this end, a set of heterogeneous 1D and 2D models are employed to model the shell and the tube sides of the reactors, respectively. The influence of air and steam-methanol feed hourly space velocities on maximum combustion temperature and methanol conversion are examined. It is observed that the MR-HCO has higher methanol conversion, hydrogen flow, and thermal efficiency, while lower CO concentration compared with the HR reactor. Furthermore, the MR-HCO showed a good potential to control the shell temperature rise and prevent hot spots.