CFD simulation of methanation reaction over 3D-printed monolithic
catalysts: A comparative study
Abstract
Exothermic methanation reaction from syngas to synthetic natural gas
(SNG) in fixed-bed reactor suffers from hot-spot formation caused by
limited heat transfer area and relatively poor radial heat transfer of
catalyst particle packings. To address this issue, monolithic catalyst
with excellent transport and mechanical properties is under development.
In this contribution, CFD simulations of methanation reaction from
syngas to SNG over three types of 3D-printed monolithic catalysts were
performed. The simulation results are in good agreement with
experimental ones. Compared with monolithic catalyst with
honeycomb-shaped straight-channel structure or tetrahedral periodic
structure, bio-inspired monolithic catalyst having the same
characteristic of cancellous bone was found to be promising due to its
lower pressure drop, better heat transfer, superior mass transfer and
thus higher conversion of syngas. The mechanism and promising
applications of 3D-printing bio-inspired monolithic catalyst are
discussed.