Design of a biogas steam reforming reactor: A modelling and experimental approach

This paper covers the research activities performed at the CNR Institute for Advanced Energy Technologies "Nicola Giordano", aimed at developing and testing a biogas steam reforming reactor. A mathematical model has been developed in order to describe, the performance of the above-cited steam reforming reactor (packed bed). To study the effects on reaction performance, a parametric analysis was performed varying operating conditions such as inlet temperature and reagent molar ratio. The model was validated by comparing the calculated data with the experimental data obtained with a proprietary Ni/ CeO2 based catalyst in packet bed micro-scale reactor at different T ¼ 700e900 C, S/C ¼ 1e5 and GHSV ¼ 30,000 h1, showing a good agreement between the experimental and theoretical results.