Hydrogen can be produced through the steam reformation of propane: CzH3(g) + 3H2O(v) + 3C0(g) + 7H2(g) At the elevated temperature in the reactor, any CO formed can react with water vapor through the water-gas shift reaction which produces more hydrogen: CO(g) + H2O(v) → CO2(g) + H2(g)
The reaction is carried out in a shell-and-tube reactor where the propane reacts over a catalyst in the tube and a heating gas flows through the shell to control the temperature of the reactor. The feed to the reactor contains water vapor and propane in a 6:1 molar ratio at 125 °C. The products emerge from the reactor at 800 °C. The heating gas passed through the shell is used to heat the reactor; it enters the reactor at 1400 °C and 1 atm and leaves at 900 °C and 1 atm. The heating gas is fed to the shell part of the reactor at 36 mol heating gas/mol C3H8 fed to the reactor. The heating gas passes over the outside of the reactor tubes and does not mix with the reactants or products. The entire shell-and-tube reactor is adiabatic.
Assume a 1 mol basis of C3Hg and complete conversion of propane. Calculate the molar composition of the product gas assuming the heat capacity of the heating gas is 0.04 kJ/mol °C and its heat of formation is zero.