Performances analysis of a compact kW-scale ATR reactor for distributed H₂ production

The distributed production of hydrogen takes on a growing consensus among the different methods for feeding fuel cells. The auto-thermal reforming of hydrocarbons is a candidate as the best method for producing hydrogen on a small scale. Since auto-thermal reforming reactor is fed with hydrocarbon, water and air, their mixing may play a fundamental role on the final process performances, by influencing hydrocarbon conversion, reaction selectivity, and hydrogen production. To obtain a very compact reaction system, reactants pre-heating and products cooling were realized in a special heat exchange system, fully integrated in the reactor. To study the reaction trend along the catalytic bed, a multipoint analysis system was set-up, allowing to monitor both temperature and composition in several points of catalytic bed, and then in several space velocity conditions. The preliminary tests showed very short start-up time, and fast response to the feed variations, confirming that the proposed reaction system is an interesting solution for distributed and non-continuous hydrogen production.