CO₂ methanation is the catalytic reduction of CO₂ to methane, which is accompanied by side reactions that produce CO. Being an equilibrium-limited exothermic reaction, thermal management is essential for good reactor performance. We analyze efficient thermal coupling by transferring the heat of reaction from outlet to the inlet stream in a single thermally-integrated microreactor with counter-current flow. We use CFD simulations to compare two modes of heat removal, viz. external cooling and feed dilution, over a wide range of operating conditions. In one mode of operation, undiluted feed is processed with external cooling using air in counter flow (air-cooled reactor) and in the other, diluted reactant mixtures in alternate channels exchange heat counter-currently as the reaction proceeds (counter-current reactor). Depending on the inlet temperature, a favorable temperature profile that improves conversion to methane forms in each reactor. For the base case, 67 % CO₂ conversion is obtained, with CH₄ selectivity of 88 % and 91 % in air-cooled and counter-current reactors, respectively. Counter-current reactor shows autothermal operation with feed at ambient temperature while air-cooled reactor gives good performance at higher inlet temperatures. It is possible to attain high selectivity to methane through appropriate choice of operating conditions.

CO ₂的甲烷化是CO的催化还原₂到甲烷，伴随着产生 CO 的副反应。作为平衡限制的放热反应，热管理对于良好的反应器​​性能至关重要。我们通过在具有逆流流动的单个热集成微反应器中将反应热从出口转移到入口流来分析有效的热耦合。我们使用 CFD 模拟来比较两种散热模式，即。外部冷却和进料稀释，适用于各种操作条件。在一种操作模式中，未稀释的进料在外部冷却的情况下使用逆流（空气冷却反应器）中的空气进行处理，而在另一种操作模式中，稀释的反应物混合物在反应进行时在交替通道中逆流交换热（逆流反应器） . 根据入口温度，有利的温度分布，可提高每个反应器中甲烷形式的转化率。对于基本情况，67 % CO获得了_{2 次}转化，在空气冷却和逆流反应器中CH _{4 的}选择性分别为 88% 和 91%。逆流反应器显示出在环境温度下进料的自热操作，而空气冷却反应器在更高的入口温度下表现出良好的性能。It is possible to attain high selectivity to methane through appropriate choice of operating conditions.