Kinetic-model For Methane Oxidative Coupling Reactors

A heterogeneous kinetic scheme, describing the catalyst surface reactions involved in the oxidative coupling of methane, is connected to a detailed homogeneous kinetic scheme with the aim of simulating the reacting behaviour of mixtures of oxygen and light hydrocarbons. The homogeneous part of the scheme involves more than 1000 elementary reaction steps and 60 reacting species; it has been demonstrated as able to describe the experimental behaviour of the light hydrocarbon pyrolysis (methane included) up to the partial oxidation of those hydrocarbons and combustion of them and their intermediate products (as CH2O, CH3OH etc.). Due to its generality, the homogeneous portion of the kinetic scheme can be related to every catalytic heterogeneous scheme, depending on the particular catalyst used. The performance of the overall scheme in oxidative coupling conditions (800-900-degrees-C and large excess of methane) is verified in comparison with experimental data obtained in a lab scale tubular reactor. The kinetic parameters of the heterogeneous reactions have been tuned on the basis of the experimental results. This overall scheme allows studies on possible process and reactor alternatives