Steam reforming of methanol over a CuO/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst, part I: Kinetic modelling

A kinetic study of the methanol steam reforming reaction was performed over a commercial CuO/ZnO/Al2O3 catalyst (Sud-Chemie, G66 MR), in the temperature range of 200-300 degrees C. The reactions considered in this work were methanol steam reforming (MSR) and reverse water gas shift (rWGS). Several MSR kinetic rate models developed by different authors were compared and the one was determined that best fitted the experimental data. A kinetic Langmuir-Hinshelwood model was proposed based on the work by Peppley et al. (1999a). The kinetic expressions that presented the best fit were used to simulate the paced bed reactor with a one-dimensional model. A good agreement between the mathematical model and the experimental data was observer. (c) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.