Numerical study on induction heating enhanced methanol steam reforming for hydrogen production

Electromagnetic induction heating technology, characterized by its non-contact thermal heat transfer, diminished thermal inertia, and facile temperature management, is applied in this study to enhance catalytic methanol steam reforming (MSR) reaction process. A two-dimensional reactor model was developed integrating electromagnetic field coupling with MSR reactions, fluid dynamics and heat transfer. In the reactor, heat is induced instantaneously on the magnetic material through an electromagnetic induction process, which generated by renewable electricity. Results showed that the Internal - Double Row Cylinder (IN-DRC, cylinder means that the shape of induction heating element is cylindrical.) highest heating efficiency is 38.3%, which is limited by the kinetics of MSR reaction. Here, thermal efficiency reaches its maximum with the reaction channel outlet temperature reaching about 580 K. Internal - Double Row Cylinder (IN-DRC) and Internal - Double Row Ball (IN-DRB, ball means that the shape of induction heating element is spherical) methanol conversions are virtually identical, with a maximum value close to 100%. Furthermore, the findings that the adoption of internal induced heating, in contrast to external heating, across the four reactor designs can effectively mitigate temperature gradient within the reactors. This reduction in thermal disparity significantly amplifies methanol conversion within the reactor, thereby markedly enhancing its overall performance in hydrogen production.Therefore, non-contact internal induction heating method has the potential for substantially hydrogen production processes.