| 摘要 |
A reactor vessel comprises (a) a first region for performing an endothermic reaction, in particular the steam reforming of a hydrocarbon, preferably, methane; (b) a second region for performing an exothermic reaction, in particular the combustion of a hydrocarbon fuel, preferably, methane, in the presence of oxygen or air; and (c) a means to transfer the heat energy released from the second region (b) to promote the endothermic reaction in the first region (a). The heat transfer means is a diffusion bonded heat exchanger comprising two sets of channels with the first set of channels forming at least part of the first region (a) and a second set of channels forming at least part of the second region (b) and arranged so that heat transfer occurs between both sets of channels. The channels may be arranged parallel to each other; perpendicular to each other or they may be interleaved with each other. The diameter of the first set of channels may be smaller than, equivalent to or greater than the diameter of the second set of channels. It is preferred that the channels (b) handling the exothermic combustion reaction are between 10 and 30 mm and that the diameter of the channels (a) handling the endothermic reforming reaction is between 1 and 3 mm. One or both sets of channels may be provided with catalyst in the form of particles or as a film layer coating the inner surface of the channels. The catalyst in the first region (a) may contain platinum or palladium while that in the second region (b) may contain ruthenium or nickel. Hydrogen produced by the steam reforming reaction in the first region (a) may be used to supply a downstream fuel cell. |
