A COMPARATIVE SIMULATION AND SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS STUDY OF HYDROGEN PRODUCTION BY STEAM METHANE REFORMING

Mihaela Buga^*, Mihai Bălan, Ioan Iordache, Mihai Varlam

National Research and Development Institute for Cryogenics and Isotopic Technologies - ICIT, Rm. Vâlcea,

4 Uzinei St., 240050, Romania; Romanian Association for Hydrogen Energy, 4 Uzinei St., 240050, Rm. Vâlcea, Romania

ABSTRACT

               Although many of the recent studies showed interest in different technologies for hydrogen production, steam methane reforming (SMR) it still the main production route for hydrogen. A simulation of the thermodynamic equilibrium was developed with Aspen Plus software using Gibbs and Equilibrium reactor options. The reactor models developed in this paper take into account the endothermic SMR reaction and the exothermic water gas shift reaction (WGS). In addition, to simulate the feed components and products, certain reaction conditions were specified: ambient pressure, temperature range 573-873K, S/C ratio 3.5 and equilibrium species (CH₄, H₂O, CO, H₂ and CO₂), mentioning that the C (solid) and radical’s concentrations are neglected. The simulation ends with a sensitivity analysis that uses the models to understand the effect of the temperature and steam/carbon ratio on methane conversion.

               Keywords: steam methane reforming, syngas, hydrogen, Aspen Plus software.