Catalytic Dry Reforming of Methane in a CREC Riser Simulator Kinetic Modeling and Model Discrimination

The present study deals with catalytic dry methane reforming in a fluidized Chemical Reactor Engineering Centre (CREC) riser simulator and with the modeling of the obtained results using several kinetic rate equations. Experiments were designed and developed using a statistical criterion that optimizes the effort expended for model discrimination. From the eight models originally considered, six of them were initially found to fit the data. However, only one of them was later on retained using model discrimination. Results of the study show that both the adsorption of methane and the adsorption of carbon dioxide play an important role in determining the observed rate of the methane dry reforming reaction and suggest that methane and carbon dioxide adsorb on different sites of the catalyst. The study is also valuable in providing a sound rate equation applicable in the context of a Catforming process under current development at the CREC of the University of Western Ontario.