CFD Modeling of NH3 Synthesis on Ru-Based Catalyst for Hydrogen Storage and Transport

Hydrogen is often considered as a promising alternative to fossil fuels, however its low boiling point and diffusivity cause a huge challenge for storage and transport. Therefore an alternative fuel like ammonia, containing 17 wt.% hydrogen with a higher boiling point, seems a very promising solution for hydrogen storage and transport. In this paper, ammonia synthesis via the most widely used Haber-Bosch process has been investigated. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model is developed for a lab-scale reactor, incorporating the modified Temkin kinetic model describing the complex catalytic reaction on the novel Ruthenium (Ru) catalyst. The isothermal simulation is first carried out for validation, i.e., comparing with the experimental data performed under the same conditions. Then the non-isothermal simulation is conducted to investigate the synthesis process in detail for the case study. The temperature gradient and species distributions inside the catalyst bed are captured and analyzed, which shows meaningful references for the design and operation of ammonia synthesis demonstrators.