Catalyst Heating Characteristics in the Traveling-Wave Microwave Reactor

Traveling-Wave Microwave Reactor (TMR) presents a novel heterogeneous catalytic reactor concept based on a coaxial waveguide structure. In the current paper, both modeling and experimental studies of catalyst heating in the TMR are presented. The developed 3D multiphysics model was validated from the electromagnetic and heat transfer points of...

Heat transfer from wall to dense packing structures of spheres, cylinders and Raschig rings

This paper investigates the validity of azimuthal averaging of 3D temperature fields in the analysis of lateral heat transfer in dense particle packings. This is conducted by synthetic generation of 3D packing surrogates of spheres, cylinders and Raschig rings with tube-to-pellet diameter ratio, 3 < N < 6, using an in-house Rigid Body...

Reverse traveling microwave reactor – Modelling and design considerations

Microwave heating presents a potentially green alternative for energy supply to chemical and catalytic reactors as it can be based on the electricity from renewable sources. The Reverse Traveling Microwave Reactor (RTMR) is a novel heterogeneous catalytic reactor concept, based on the coaxial waveguide structure. The reactor has two microwave...

Multiscale modelling of wall-to-bed heat transfer in fixed beds with non-spherical pellets: From particle-resolved CFD to pseudo-homogenous models

We investigate forced convective heat transfer in packings of spheres, cylinders and Raschig rings, made of glass, steel and alumina, in relatively narrow tubes. A detailed comparison is made between resolved pellet-scale, azimuthally-averaged temperature profiles, and 2D-axially-dispersed pseudo-homogenous plug flow (2D-ADPF) predictions....

Microwave heating in heterogeneous catalysis: Modelling and design of rectangular traveling-wave microwave reactor

Microwave irradiation can intensify catalytic chemistry by selective and controlled microwave-catalytic packed-bed interaction. However, turning it to reality from laboratory to practical applications is hindered by challenges in the reactor design and scale-up. Here, we present a novel, rectangular traveling-wave microwave reactor (RTMR) and...

Syngas production via microwave-assisted dry reforming of methane

Energy-efficient CH4-CO2 valorization to fuels and chemicals presents an urgent need considering the great variety of methane sources and the removal of greenhouse gases. In the present work, the microwave-assisted dry reforming of methane, DRM, has been carried out in a custom-designed rectangular mono-mode microwave applicator over several...