Rich Thermal Partial Oxidation of Methane to Synthesis Gas: Thermodynamic Analysis

فاقد چكيده فارسي

A comprehensive thermodynamic study of the Thermal Partial Oxidation (TPOX) of methane in rich circumstances has been conducted. This article focuses on the prediction of equilibrium concentration of syngas (a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide) and the onset of soot formation in the TPOX process using the Gibbs free energy minimization method. In order to investigate the effects of the equivalence ratio, temperature and pressure, a broad parametric study was carried out. The results show that the pressure has an undesirable effect on the syngas production efficiency, leading to the soot formation and decrease in both hydrogen and carbon monoxide yields. However, the obtained results indicate that the pressure effects have been overcome to some extent with the increase of temperature. Generally speaking, the thermodynamic equilibrium examinations demonstrate an increase in the syngas production along with the soot reduction with increasing temperature and declining pressure in the rich mixtures. Moreover, the results show that distribution of syngas yields depends strongly on the equivalence ratio which its optimum value varies according to the temperature