Reactor temperature profile during autothermal methane reforming on Rh/Al2O3 catalyst by IR imaging

Catalytic autothermal reforming of methane was studied over a commercial rhodium catalyst as a function of feed flow rate, feed composition and oven temperature. The process is carried out in a catalytic fixed bed reactor inserted in a tubular oven. Temperature profile of the catalyst bed was measured by IR thermography and product composition was measured with a continuous gas analyzer. The effect of water addition at fixed flow rate on catalyst temperature profile was investigated in two ways. In one case, upon water addition, an equivalent amount of nitrogen was removed from the feed in order to keep oxygen and methane concentrations constant. With this protocol nitrogen to oxygen ratio varies as a function of amount of water in the feed. In the other case, upon water addition, nitrogen, oxygen and methane were all reduced to keep total flow rate constant, thus keeping both oxygen to methane and nitrogen to oxygen ratios constant. The effect of water addition on product composition was investigated as a function of reactor thermal level, regulated by acting on oven temperature. (c) 2008 International Association for Hydrogen Energy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.