Validity of the Non-Porous-Catalyst Assumption for Modeling of the Water-Gas-Shift Process

Abstract

The water-gas-shift (WGS) is an important process for producing hydrogen. The
catalyst for this process is porous while the mathematical model describing the WGS process often applied the assuming that the catalyst is non-porous. In this research, validity of the non-porous-catalyst assumption was investigated by numerical simulation for an isothermal plug flow reactor. The reactor performance calculated using the non-porous-catalyst assumption was compared to that using the porous-catalyst assumption. Calculation result shows that the reactor performances obtained from the two assumptions are closed to each other. The non-porous-catalyst assumption is therefore valid for describing the reactor performance.