PROCESS DESIGN OF ETHANOL REFORMING FOR HYDROGEN PRODUCTION

Abstract

The use of hydrogen in fuel cells is considered by many researchers one of the most convenientmethods for electric energy production, under environmentally. Hydrogen can be obtained from water ororganic sources, among which are natural gas, petroleum naphtha and methanol. However, ethanol presentsa great number of advantages over fossil fuels, because it is produced from renewable biomass, thereforealmost neutral in terms of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Furthermore, it provides ease handling andstorage, and less toxicity when compared to other organic sources. In this project, the process developmentwas conducted through the following steps: modeling and simulation of reactive systems, with kineticsobtained from technical papers, adjustment of operational variables and analysis of the process efficiency.