Metal foams are considered as promising catalyst carriers due to their high porosity, large specific surface area, and satisfactory thermal and mechanical stability. The study presents heat transfer and pressure drop experiments performed for seven foams of different pore densities made from diverse metals. Mass transfer characteristics are derived using the Chilton–Colburn analogy. It was found that the foams display much more intense heat/mass transfer than a monolith, comparable to packed bed. Next, the foams’ efficiencies have been compared, using 1D reactor modeling, in catalytic reactions displaying either slower (selective catalytic reduction of NOx) or faster kinetics (catalytic methane combustion). For the slow kinetics, the influence of carrier specific surface area at which catalyst can be deposited (i.e., catalyst amount) was decisive to achieve high process conversion and short reactor. For this case, monolith appears as the best choice assuming it’s the lowest pressure drop. For the fast reaction, the mass transfer becomes the limiting parameter, thus solid foams are the best solution.

Solid foams have been intensely studied as promising structured catalytic internals. However, mechanisms governing flow and transport phenomena within the foam structures have not been properly addressed in the literature. The aim of this study was to consider such flow mechanisms based on our experimental results on flow resistance. Two mechanisms were considered: developing laminar flow in a short capillary channel (flow-through model), and flow around an immersed solid body, either a cylinder or sphere (flow-around model). Flow resistance experiments were performed on three aluminum foams of 10, 20, and 40 PPI (pores per inch), using a 57 mm ID test column filled with the foams studied. The foam morphology was examined using microtomography and optical microscopy to derive the geometric parameters applied in the model equations. The flow-through model provided an accuracy of 25% for the experiments. The model channel diameter was the foam cell diameter, and the channel length was the strut thickness. The accuracy of the flow-around model was only slightly worse (35%). It was difficult to establish the geometry of the immersed solid body (sphere or cylinder) because experiment characteristics tended to change from sphere to cylinder with increasing PPI value.

Fugitive methane emissions contained in the ventilation air (VAM) from underground coal mines make a significant contribution to the global methane emissions. These methane emissions have a high global warming potential (GWP) and should be mitigated to combat climate change. This study reports on a novel integrated recuperator reactor concept designed to mitigate these low-concentration methane streams using catalytic combustion. The paper analyzes the heat recovery aspects of the novel design and illustrates a computer-aided design approach to system development. Both computational and experimental methods were used in the investigation. The double-spiral counterflow design is shown to be able to eliminate methane from the flow stream with the feed at room temperature. A methodology is illustrated that can be used to determine the operating limits of the proposed recuperative reactor system. This system is suitable for use inside a mine.