Stackable Structural Reactor (SSR®) – Partnership and Grants Beyond Standard Steam Reforming
In partnership with a hydrogen plant builder, we have conducted field testing of our SSR technology in a small hydrogen plant that supplies hydrogen to a steel mill. To date, results have been excellent. Continued success is expected to lead to commercial orders as of 2009.
SSR is an innovative coated foil reactor that serves as a direct replacement for ceramic-packed bed catalysts in hydrogen plants. The technology can also be useful in ammonia, steam reforming and other catalytic processes that are heat transfer limited.
SSR offers increased throughput in plants by significantly improving the heat transfer between catalyst surface and tube wall. It may also be used to reduce energy consumption in the plant. Being made of metal foil, the SSR structure will not break or crush like ceramic pellets in other steam reforming structures.
Development on this project was partially funded by Phase I, II, and III grants from EMTEC and EERE under EFC-H1-09-1A, -2A , and -3A. Early product testing was performed under a GATE Partnership Award from NASA Glenn. Read about it in this NASA Glenn Success Story.