A three-dimensional conjugate heat transfer model for methanol synthesis in a modular millireactor

In this work, a modular millireactor (MMR) is designed and modeled using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tool OpenFOAM. First, method validated against conventional packed bed reactor (PBR) model (1D) with Aspen Plus. Next, applied to study effects of pressure (2–6 MPa) temperature (483–533 K) on performance MMR. Conjugate heat transfer (CHT) CFD results for MMR are compared corresponding PBR at isothermal conditions. For MMR, methanol yield shown vary between 9–23 % within studied parameter range. Overall, outperforms conditions in work. The maximum difference noted be factor 1.71 533 K 5 MPa. Such large discrepancy advocates usage 3D CHT/CFD.