Transient three-dimensional simulations of a catalytic combustion monolithusing detailed models for heterogeneous and homogeneous reactions and transport phenomena

The application of a newly developed computational tool, DETCHEMMONOLITH, f or the transient two- and three-dimensional simulation of catalytic combust ion monoliths is presented. The simulation is based on the coupling of a tr ansient 2D/3D heat balance of the solid monolith structure with steady-stat e calculations of the reactive flow in a representative number of channels. The two-dimensional single-channel model uses a boundary-layer approximati on including detailed models for heterogeneous and homogeneous reactions as well as transport phenomena. As an example, the computational tool is appl ied to study the hydrogen-assisted catalytic combustion of methane in a pla tinum-coated honeycomb monolith. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.