Development of a Catalytic Fuel Processor for a 10 kW Combined Heat and Power System: Experimental and Modeling Analysis of the Steam Reforming Unit

In this work, we address the development of a combined heat and power unit for residential applications, fed by natural gas, air and H2O; focus is on the design of the first catalytic stage of the fuel processor, that is the steam reforming unit. A commercial catalyst was tested at the laboratory scale, under kinetically controlled conditions in order to derive information on the reaction kinetics and support the basic engineering of the full scale reactor. Analogous tests after long term steam reforming ageing were then performed to quantify the evolution of the catalyst activity under real operating conditions and estimate a lumped deactivation factor. A modelling analysis was performed to predict the expected performance of the fuel processor at varying input parameters and catalyst activity profiles. It was verified that at a space velocity below 5000 Nl/kg(cat)/h, the reactor output is fully controlled by the thermodynamics at 650 degrees C, which guarantees the best operability and efficiency of the whole fuel processor.