Modeling and Simulation of Ethanol Steam Reforming for Sustainable Hydrogen Production

Luca Cimmino, Francesco Calise, Francesco Cappiello, Massimo Dentice d’Accadia, Maria Vicidomini

2025

Abstract

The transition toward sustainable energy systems emphasizes hydrogen as a clean energy carrier, with ethanol steam reforming emerging as a promising pathway for its renewable production. This study presents a one-dimensional reactor model developed and simulated using MatLab, integrating thermodynamic, kinetic, and heat transfer analyses to evaluate the performance of ethanol reforming. The model was validated against existing literature and simulated under varying operational parameters. Key numerical results indicate that the reactor achieves a hydrogen yield of 85% and an energy efficiency exceeding 75% at optimal conditions, with inlet temperatures of 600°C and an ethanol-to-water molar ratio of 1:3. Sensitivity analysis revealed that increasing the ethanol flow rate from 0.1 to 0.3 mol/s reduced the hydrogen yield by 12%, while adjusting the reactor diameter from 0.05 m to 0.1 m improved the thermal efficiency by 10%. The system performance was also significantly influenced by heat transfer coefficients, which ranged from 500 to 800 W/m²·K along the reactor. The study also highlights the potential of integrating carbon capture technologies to mitigate CO2 emissions generated as a byproduct. These findings provide valuable insights for optimizing ethanol reforming reactors, paving the way for scalable and sustainable hydrogen production technologies in renewable energy systems.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Cimmino L., Calise F., Cappiello F., Dentice d’Accadia M. and Vicidomini M. (2025). Modeling and Simulation of Ethanol Steam Reforming for Sustainable Hydrogen Production. In Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Smart Cities and Green ICT Systems - Volume 1: SMEN; ISBN 978-989-758-751-1, SciTePress, pages 232-238. DOI: 10.5220/0013465000003953

in Bibtex Style

@conference{smen25,
author={Luca Cimmino and Francesco Calise and Francesco Cappiello and Massimo Dentice d’Accadia and Maria Vicidomini},
title={Modeling and Simulation of Ethanol Steam Reforming for Sustainable Hydrogen Production},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Smart Cities and Green ICT Systems - Volume 1: SMEN},
year={2025},
pages={232-238},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013465000003953},
isbn={978-989-758-751-1},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Smart Cities and Green ICT Systems - Volume 1: SMEN
TI - Modeling and Simulation of Ethanol Steam Reforming for Sustainable Hydrogen Production
SN - 978-989-758-751-1
AU - Cimmino L.
AU - Calise F.
AU - Cappiello F.
AU - Dentice d’Accadia M.
AU - Vicidomini M.
PY - 2025
SP - 232
EP - 238
DO - 10.5220/0013465000003953
PB - SciTePress