CATALYTIC COMBUSTION OF VERY LEAN MIXTURES IN A REVERSE FLOW REACTOR USING AN INTERNAL ELECTRICAL HEATER

An experimental study of the reverse flow reactor, equipped with an in ternal electrical heater, for the autothermal combustion of very dilut e organic compounds, in particular ethene, propane, and their mixtures , has been carried out. The influence of several operating parameters like electrical heater power, cycle period, chemical character, and co ncentration of the pollutants on the maximum temperature and on the sh ape of temperature profiles in the stationary state is discussed. Expe rimental results show that an internal electrical heater can be succes sfully used to oxidize completely very lean mixtures which would not b e able to maintain an autothermal process only by themselves. The pred ictions with a heterogeneous one-dimensional model without using fit p arameters show a good agreement with experiments except for critical s ituations.