Autothermal Reforming of Ethanol for Hydrogen Production: Modeling and Simulation

Autothermal reforming (ATR), which is the combination of endothermic steam reforming and exothermic partial oxidation, is an attractive process to produce hydrogen using for transportation fuel cell because of its moderate size. ATR is considered to be thermally self-sustaining that the external heat source is not required. In order to keep the adiabatic temperature of ATR reactor, the process control strategy needs in understanding the dynamic characteristics of the ATR system. Thus, the modeling and simulation of ATR process for hydrogen production fueled by ethanol is carried out in this work. The open loop responses of the feed and ATR temperatures are simulated by the dynamic models of ATR system. The simulation results showed the predominantly influence of the electrical power of preheater on the feed and ATR temperatures while the air flowrate has an inverse effect on the feed temperature and a direct effect on the ATR temperature. As a result, the match of control loop is very sensible for an effective control strategy in the development of control system design for maintaining the adiabatic temperature of ATR reactor for sustaining the effectiveness of hydrogen production.