Modeling of Autocyclic Reactor for the Removal of Unburned Methane from Emissions of Natural Gas Engines

Natural gas represents an environmentally attractive alternative to diesel and gasoline fuels to reduce all automotive emissions. However, a relatively high content of unburned methane in the exhaust gases outweighs these benefits. To treat Such emissions, a counter-current type fixed bed autocyclic reactor (ACR) was designed and built for laboratory testing. The efficiency of the ACR, loaded with palladium based catalysts (pellets and monoliths) was evaluated experimentally under a wide range of conditions. As a first step in modeling the ACR performance, it HTI-D model was developed to Suit the actual reactor configuration. This model reproduced adequately the axial temperature profiles and methane conversion, but tuning Parameters had to be used to account for heat transfer. To permit investigation of radial heat transfer and thus better understanding of the ACR behavior, a two-dimensional model was developed, and Successfully validated against experimental data. The new HT2-Dt model allowed it full range of the ACR performance simulations.