A dynamic, heterogeneous, two-dimensional model for packed-bed water gas shift reactors is presented. It can be applied to both high and low temperature shifts, and at scales ranging from industrial (for power plant applications) to small (such as automotive fuel cell applications). The model is suitable for any catalyst for which kinetic data are available, and shows excellent agreement with available experimental data for non-equilibrium conditions. The model is applied to an IGCC-TIGAS polygeneration plant to examine the dynamic behavior of the WGS units. The development of catalyst hot-spots is predicted during start-up or transition between steady states under certain conditions. (C) 2009 Professor T. Nejat Veziroglu. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.