Performance of reverse flow monolithic reactor for water-gas shift reaction

This work explores the application of monolithic catalysts and reverse flow reactor (RFR) technology for carrying out the water-gas shift reaction (WGS). The performance of both adiabatic fixed-bed reactors (FBR) and RFR operating with particulate or monolith catalysts has been simulated using a heterogeneous one-dimensional model, experimentally validated for other reactions in previous works. Comparisons were made at the same space velocities (GHSV between 6000 and 12000 h(-1)) and at previously optimized values of switching time (RFR) and feed temperature (FBR). Results obtained indicate that the operation with monolith catalysts provide better results in terms of wider stability intervals (RFR) and hydrogen yields (both RFR and FBR). When the performances of FBR and RFR are compared, it is observed that, for the same amount of catalyst, the FBR performs better than the FBR, although the difference becomes smaller as the space time increases. So, for high space times, the use of monolithic RFR can be advantageous taking into account the higher energy efficiency of RFR, which may allow operation with no feed heating. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.