Thermodynamic equilibrium analysis of CO2 reforming of methane: elimination of carbon deposition and adjustment of H2/CO ratio

Dry (CO2) reforming of methane (DRM) is considered as a promising technique to produce syngas. In this study, to optimise the operating conditions for elimination of carbon deposition, thermodynamic calculations were carried out to understand the effect of various temperatures (550-1200 degrees C), pressures (0.05-5MPa) and CH4/CO2 mole ratios (0.52) on the product of H-2/CO ratio as well as the formation of carbon deposition. The suggested DRM operating conditions for carbon free regime are at a temperature greater than 1000 degrees C with CH4/CO2 mole ratio = 1 and pressure P = 0.1MPa. The operating temperature of carbon free regime could be switched to lower temperature by either lowering the CH4/CO2 mole ratio or decreasing the reaction pressure. The results illustrated that the temperature range for severe carbon formation was between 546 degrees C and 703 degrees C. CH4 decomposition and CO disassociation reaction are considered as the major reactions contributing to carbon formation. The former was promoted at operating conditions of P <= 0.1MPa and 550 degrees C <= T <= 1000 degrees C, while the latter was enhanced at operating conditions of P >= 0.1MPa and T <= 700 degrees C. The syngas produced from optimised carbon free regime operating conditions, could be used to synthesis olefin, heavy hydrocarbons and oxygenated compounds. H-2/CO ratio could be adjusted by the changing CH4/CO2 mole ratio and/or pressure to satisfy F-T process for different application. Since the latter is only effective when operating temperature is lower than 900 degrees C the former is proposed as a more efficient method to adjust H-2/CO ratio. When the operating temperature of DRM is over 700 degrees C, H2/CO ratio obtained at CH4/CO2 mole ratio of DRM <= 1 and P = 0.1MPa is more preferable to be used for the synthesis of olefin, heavy hydrocarbons and oxygenated compounds. Otherwise the syngas is more suitable for producing alkane (C-1 -C-5). (C) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.