Design of a multi-inlet solar thermochemical reactor for steam methane reforming with improved performance

Reactor structure design plays an important role in the performance of solar-thermal methane reforming reactors.Based on a conventional preheating reactor,this study proposed a cylindrical solar methane reforming reactor with multiple inlets to vary the temperature field distribution,which improved the temperature of the reaction region in the reactor,thereby improving the reactor performance.A multi-physical model that considers mass,momentum,species,energy conservation,as well as thermochemical reaction kinetics of methane reforming,was applied to numerically investigate the reactor performance and analyze the factors that affect performance improvement.It was found that compared with a conventional preheating reactor,the proposed cylindrical reac-tor with inner and external inlets for gas feeding enhanced heat recovery from the exhausted gas and provided a more suitable temperature field for the reaction in the reactor.Under different operating conditions,the methane conversion in the cylindrical reactor with multi-inlet increased by 9.5%to 19.1%,and the hydrogen production was enhanced by 12.1%to 40.3%in comparison with the conventional design,even though the total reaction catalyst volume was reduced.

Synthesis of atomically dispersed cationic nickel-confined mesoporous ZSM-48(ANMZ-48)directed by metal complexes in amphiphilic molecules

The synthesis of mesoporous zeolite-anchored atomically dispersed metal catalysts(ADCs)is a considerable challenge in chemistry and materials science.Here we report the synthesis of atomically dispersed cationic nickel-confined mesoporous ZSM-48(ANMZ-48)by in situ hydrothermal reaction employing a designed tri-functional metal complex template,by which the triquaternary ammonium groups in the hydrophilic region direct the formation of ZSM-48 zeolite;the aromatic groups in the hydrophobic tail generate the mesopores through π-π stacking;and the complexes formed by nickel ions coordinated with terpyridyl groups generate atomically dispersed Ni2+confined in zeolite frameworks due to the strong sintering resistance generated by the strong coordination interaction.The ANMZ-48 is consisting of stacking of sheet-like ZSM-48 domains connected by multiply crystal twinning sharing the common(011)plane,generating abundant of imbedded mesopores with the uniform thickness of~2.4 nm and with the width of 10-50 nm.The excellent catalytic activity and stability of ANMZ-48 were also reflected in the dry reforming of methane(DRM)reaction.