Heat transfer and hydrogen permeability in modelling industrial membrane reactors for methane steam reforming

A non-isothermal, one-dimensional, pseudo-homogeneous model is used to simulate the behaviour of a fixed-bed membrane reactor for industrial production of hydrogen by steam reforming of methane. The attention is focused on the influence of heat transfer description on reactor performance: after a brief explanation of the physical meaning of coefficients used in heat transport from the reactor wall to the catalytic bed, several correlations are reported and tested. Reliable expressions of heat transfer coefficients, together with a precise knowledge of membrane permeability, are shown to be a basic requirement to get reliable results from reactor simulations.