Characteristic Investigation on the Methanol Steam Reforming Microchannel Reactor with the Novel Catalytic Combustion Self-Heating Structure for Hydrogen Production

Methanol steam reforming hydrogen production provides a solution for the portable development of hydrogen–oxygen fuel cells with the working mode of “on-site hydrogen production and ready-to-use”. In this paper, the catalytic combustion chamber is redesigned, and the autothermal nozzle microchannel reactor (ANMR) system is proposed for efficient methanol steam reforming hydrogen produced. The performance superiority of ANMR is demonstrated by comparison with traditional reactors, and the optimization scheme of the reactor structure is studied. The results show that ANMR improves the overall reforming performance by improving the temperature performance. Compared to the conventional reactor, the ANMR optimizes the reactor structure and operating conditions, which results in the catalyst of the combustion chamber being reduced by 40%, the hydrogen production being increased by 40.34 L/h, and the methanol conversion rate being increased by 22.49%. Consequently, the design theory and control method of the velocity field, concentration field, and temperature field coupling system are developed, which is of great significance for the portability of hydrogen production.