601 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING TRANSACTIONS Volume 21, 2010 Editor J. J. Klemeš, H. L. Lam, P. S. Varbanov Copyright © 2010, AIDIC Servizi S.r.l., ISBN 978-88-95608-05-1 ISSN 1974-9791 DOI: 10.3303/CET1021101 Please cite this article as: Wang Y., Chao Z. and Jakobsen H., (2010 CFD modelling of CO 2 capture in the SE-SMR process in the fluidized bed reactors., Chemical Engineering Transactions, 21, 601-606, DOI: 10.3303/CET1021101. CFD modelling of CO 2 capture in the SE-SMR process in the fluidized bed reactors Yuefa Wang, Zhongxi Chao, Hugo A. Jakobsen* Norwegian University of Science and technology, NTNU, Department of Chemical Engineering, Trondheim, Norway hugo.atle.j@chemeng.ntnu.no A three dimensional Eulerian two-fluid model with an in-house code was developed to simulate the gas-particle two phase flow in the fluidized bed reactors. The CO 2 capture with Ca-based sorbents in the steam methane reforming process was studied with such model incorporating the reaction kinetics. The sorption enhanced steam methane reforming (SE-SMR) process (i.e. SMR and adsorption of CO 2 ) and the regeneration process of sorbents were carried out in a bubbling fluidized bed reactor and a circulating fluidized bed reactor separately. The effects of pressure, temperature and inlet gas flow rate on the reactions were studied. The very high production of hydrogen in SE-SMR was obtained compared with the standard SMR process. It needs a rather long time to accomplish the sorbent regeneration. 1. Introduction The hydrogen and CO 2 are main products in the steam methane reforming process. Hydrogen is an important material in the petroleum and chemical industries, and is considered to be a potential clean energy source. However, with the increasing impact of global warming caused mostly by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases, the emission control of CO 2 as the most important greenhouse gas was concerned by many researchers. The process of sorption enhanced steam methane reforming (SE-SMR) is becoming an important topic due to its integration of hydrogen production and CO 2 separation. In this process, carbon dioxide is captured by an on-line sorbent, and the chemical equilibrium is shifted to the product side of the SMR reaction. Therefore, the higher hydrogen production may be obtained (Han and Harrison, 1994). The sorbent with the adsorbed carbon dioxide can be regenerated using the temperature or pressure swing desorption to release the CO 2 for storage or other treatment. The SE-SMR reactions can proceed at temperatures of about 200℃ lower than that for standard SMR process (Hufton et al., 1999). Several researchers have reported the experimental work (Abanades et al., 2004; Hughes et al., 2004; Johnsen et al., 2006a) and theoritical studies (Prasad and Elnashaie, 2004; Johnsen et al., 2006b; Li and Cai, 2007; Lindborg and Jakobsen, 2009) on the SE- SMR process. A 3D numerical two-fluid model was developed in this paper. The