Enhancing the performance of catalysts in turbulent premixed fuel-lean hydrogen/air combustion

• Turbulent catalytic combustion of premixed H 2 /air lean and ultra-lean mixtures. • Staggered cylinders enhance mass and heat convection, intensifying the catalytic process. • The non-planar reactor with half and full cylinders boosts H 2 conversion by 30.7 %. • Effective discrete coating reduces the amount of catalyst used by up to 50 %. Catalytic-aided combustion is a proven technique for burning highly lean and ultra-lean mixtures of hydrogen and air. However, the noble catalyst required for combustion is naturally scarce and therefore expensive. In this study, we focus on a numerical investigation to determine the best way of coating a platinum catalyst inside a catalytic hydrogen reactor. We study various planar and non-planar reactors and find that the reactor with a combination of half and full cylinders is the most effective in H 2 conversion. Compared to an equivalent catalytic planar reactor, the non-planar configuration increases the H 2 conversion by 30.7 %. The results show that enhancing mass and heat convection can significantly increase the H 2 conversion. Furthermore, in a non-planar reactor, surfaces with an enhanced mass and heat transfer can achieve up to 50 % catalyst savings when coated with a catalyst, while still maintaining a conversion rate of 2 kg/s per unit of catalytically-coated surface area.