A benchmark simulator for advanced control of ethanol steam reforming

This article presents a nonlinear dynamic simulator of an ethanol steam reforming process designed for pure hydrogen production for fuel cell applications. The process consists of two stages: alcohol reforming and hydrogen separation within a staged-separation membrane reactor. The simulator is intended to serve as a benchmark for developing and testing advanced control, estimation, and optimization strategies. The simulator is extensively validated with experimental data. Detailed descriptions of the experimental setup, key modeling assumptions, and reference operating conditions are provided. Furthermore, critical control challenges that must be addressed to achieve optimal process operation are identified, along with quantitative metrics for evaluating the performance of control strategies implemented by users. A set of case studies illustrate the implementation of a proportional–integral–derivative (PID) controller in the benchmark simulator for tracking a hydrogen flow set-point and effectively rejecting disturbances. The benchmark simulator is developed in MATLAB® and is available in an online repository. • Benchmark simulator for evaluating advanced control and estimation strategies. • Validated dynamic model of ethanol steam reforming for hydrogen production. • Operating conditions, disturbance scenarios, and control challenges are suggested. • Open-source MATLAB implementation with full documentation provided. • Case studies show PID control for hydrogen flow tracking and disturbances rejection.