• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.69-80
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• 2003

Nickel catalyst has been used for natural gas reforming with carbon dioxide, In this study, catalyst support used was HY zeolite. The optimum loading of Ni in the catalysts was 13 wt%. The effect of promoters, such as Mg, Mn, and K, was also studied. The addition of promoters to Ni catalyst improved the stability of catalysts and carbon deposition on Ni catalyst was suppressed. The reforming reactivity of promoter-added Ni catalyst was higher than that of Ni catalyst without any promoters. SEM, XRD, BET, TGA and FTIR tests were tried to characterize the catalyst structure before and after reaction.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.40 no.12
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• pp.793-799
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• 2016

In a hybrid fuel cell system, low-temperature reforming technology, which uses waste heat as a heat source, is applied to improve system efficiency. A low temperature reformer is required to optimize geometry in low thermal conditions so that the reformer can achieve the proper methane conversion rate. This study analyzed internal temperature distributions and the reaction patterns of a reformer by considering the change of the shape factor on the limited heat supply condition. Unlike the case of a high temperature reformer, analysis showed that the reaction of a low temperature reformer takes place primarily in the high temperature region of the reactor exit. In addition, it was confirmed that the efficiency can be improved by reducing the GHSV (gas hourly space velocity) or increasing the heat transfer area in the radial direction. Through reacting characteristic analysis, according to change of the aspect ratio, it was confirmed that a low temperature reformer can improve the efficiency by increasing the heat transfer in the radial direction, rather than in the longitudinal direction.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.425-430
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• 2012

In this study, a preconverter of an MCFC for an emergency electric power supplier is numerically simulated to increase the hydrogen production from natural gas (methane). A commercial code is used to simulate a porous catalyst with a user subroutine to model three dominant chemical reactions-steam reforming, water-gas shift, and direct steam reforming. To achieve a fuel conversion rate of 10% in the preconverter, the required external heat flux is supplied from the outer wall of the preconverter. The calculated results show that the temperature distribution and chemical reaction are extremely nonuniform near the wall of the preconverter. These phenomena can be explained by the low heat conductivity of the porous catalyst and the endothermic reforming reaction. The calculated results indicate that the use of a compact-size preconverter makes the chemical reaction more uniform and provides many advantages for catalyst maintenance.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.30 no.12
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• pp.1268-1272
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• 2008

Low temperature plasma applied with partial oxidation is a technique to produce synthesis gas from methane. Low temperature plasma reformer has superior miniaturization and start-up characteristics to reformers using steam reforming or CO$_2$ reforming. In this research, a low temperature plasma reformer using GlidArc discharge was proposed. Reforming characteristics for each of the following variables were studied: gas components ratio (O$_2$/CH$_4$), the amount of steam, comparison of reaction on nickle and iron catalysts and the amount of CO$_2$. The optimum conditions for hydrogen production from methane was found. The maximum Hydrogen concentration of 41.1% was obtained under the following in this condition: O$_2$/C ratio of 0.64, total gas flow of 14.2 L/min, catalyst reactor temperature of 672$^{\circ}C$, the amount of steam was 0.8, reformer energy density of 1.1 kJ/L with Ni catalyst in the catalyst reactor. At this point, the methane conversion rate, hydrogen selectivity and reformer thermal efficiency were 66%, 93% and 35.2%, respectively.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.319-324
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• 2013

The partial oxidation reaction of methane was investigated to produce syngas with $Ni/CeO_2-ZrO_2$, $Ni-Ru/CeO_2-ZrO_2$ and $Ni-Pd/CeO_2-ZrO_2$ catalysts. Honeycomb metallic monolith was applied in order to obtain high catalytic activity and stability in partial oxidation reforming. The catalysts were characterized by XRD and FE-SEM. The influence of various catalysts on syngas production was studied for the feed ratio (O/C), GHSV and temperature. Among the catalysts used in the experiment, the $Ni-Pd/CeO_2-ZrO_2$ catalyst showed the highest activity. The 99% of $CH_4$ conversion was obtained at the condition of T=$900^{\circ}C$, GHSV=10,000 $h^{-1}$ and feed ratio O/C=0.55. It was confirmed that $H_2$ yield increased slightly as O/C ratio increased, while CO yield remained almost constant. Also, $CH_4$ conversion decreased as GHSV increased. It was found that the safe range of GHSV for high $CH_4$ conversion was estimated to be less than 10,000 $h^{-1}$.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.243-247
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• 2009

This study is purposed to analyze thermodynamic properties on the hydrogen production by ethylene glycol steam reforming. Various reaction conditions of temperatures(300~1,600 K), feed compositions(steam/carbon= 0.5~4.5), and pressures(1~30 atm) were applied to investigate the effects of the reaction conditions on the thermodynamic properties of dimethyl ether steam reforming. An endothermic steam reforming competed with an exothermic water gas shift reaction and an exothermic methanation within the applied reaction condition. Hydrogen production was initiated at the temperature of 400 K and the production rate was promoted at temperatures exceeding 500 K. An increase of steam to carbon ratio(S/C) in feed mixture over 1.0 resulted in the increase of the water gas shift reaction, which lowered the formation of carbon monoxide. The maximum hydrogen yield with minimizing loss of thermodynamic conversion efficiency was achieved at the reaction conditions of a temperature of 900 K and a steam to carbon ratio of 3.0.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2020

Hydrogen production from biogas has received consistent attention due to the great potential to solve simultaneously the issues of energy demands and environmental problems. Practically, biomethane produced by purification/upgrading of biogas can be a good alternative to the natural gas which is a main reactant for a steam methane reforming process. Judging from the economic and environmental impacts, however, the steam biogas and dry reforming are considered to be more effective routes for hydrogen production because both processes do not require the carbon dioxide elimination step. Herein, we highlight recent studies of hydrogen production via reforming processes using biogas and effective applications for earlier commercialization.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.140-150
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• 2007

Thermochemical 2-step methane reforming, involving the reduction of metal oxide with methane to produce syngas and the oxidation of the reduced metal oxide with water to produce pure hydrogen, was investigated on ferrite-based metal oxide mediums. The mediums, CoFZ, CuFZ, or MnFZ, were composed of the mixture of M(M=Co, Cu or Mn)-substituted ferrite as an active component and $ZrO_2$ as a binder, respectively. The WZ medium, composed of the mixture of $WO_3$ and $ZrO_2$, was also prepared to compare. With an addition of $ZrO_2$, the surface area of the mediums was slightly increased and the sintering of active components was greatly suppressed during the reduction. The higher reactivity of the reduced mediums for water splitting was confirmed by the temperature programmed reaction. From the results of the thermochemical 2-step methane reforming, the reactivity of $CH_4$ reduction and water splitting with ferrite-based metal oxide mediums was relatively higher than that with WZ, and the order of reactivity of the mediums was MnFZ>CoFZ>CuFZ>WZ.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.87-92
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• 2006

The steam reforming of methane over Ru-promoted $Ni/Al_2O_3$ was carried out. Compared with $Ni/Al_2O_3$, which needs pre-reduction by $H_2$, $Ru/Ni/Al_2O_3$ catalysts exhibited relatively higher activity than conventional $Ni/Al_2O_3$. According to $H_2-TPR$ of reduced or used catalysts and $CH_4-TPR$, it was revealed that the reduction of $RuO_x$ by $CH_4$ decomposition begins at a lower temperature ($220^{\circ}C$) and the reduced Ru facilitates the reduction of NiO, and leads to self-activation. To improve metal dispersion, the catalyst was soaked in 7 M aqueous $NH_4OH$ for 2 h at $45^{\circ}C$ while stirring. As a result, $Ru/Ni/Al_2O_3$ catalysts with aqueous $NH_4OH$ treatment have higher activity, larger metal surface area (by $H_2$-chemisorption), and small particle size (by XRD and XPS). It is noted that the amount of noble metal could be reduced by aqueous $NH_4OH$ treatment.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.727-735
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• 2014

For improved sustainability of the biorefinery industry, biorefinery-byproduct glycerol is being investigated as an alternate source for hydrogen production. This research designs and optimizes a hydrogen-production process for small hydrogen stations using steam reforming of purified glycerol as the main reaction, replacing existing processes relying on steam methane reforming. Modeling, simulation and optimization using a commercial process simulator are performed for the proposed hydrogen production process from glycerol. The mixture of glycerol and steam are used for making syngas in the reforming process. Then hydrogen are produced from carbon monoxide and steam through the water-gas shift reaction. Finally, hydrogen is separated from carbon dioxide using PSA. This study shows higher yield than former U.S. DOE and Linde studies. Economic evaluations are performed for optimal planning of constructing domestic hydrogen energy infrastructure based on the proposed glycerol-based hydrogen station.