Numerical simulation of catalytic combustion of methane using washcoat model and external model: a comparison study

This paper presents a comparison study of numerical simulation of catalytic combustion of methane on Pt catalyst using two different physical models. The external surface model and the washcoat model were employed. The simulations were conducted in a two-dimensional monolith reactor with detail surface kinetics. The agreement of simulation results of the washcoat model with the measured data is good. However, in contrast to experimental data, the external surface method will produce a lower result of conversion of CH₄ at low temperature due to the neglecting of the larger inner surface of the washcoat. Moreover, the effects of specific surface area and pore size of washcoat on reaction rate were discussed. It can be concluded that the washcoat model would provide a more realistic result and can enrich the contents of numerical simulation of catalytic reaction.