• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.37-40
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• 2007

Diesel autothermal reforming(ATR) is an effective method for hydrogen production. But, diesel ATR has several problems such as the sulfur poisoning of catalyst and carbon deposition during reforming reactor. Especially, carbon deposition is a severe problem, which causes rapid performance degradation, in the reforming reaction. Ethylene among the reformate gas is a carbon precursor. Effective decomposition of ethylene is an important issue. In this paper, we investigated the carbon deposition from ethylene in the reforming reaction for proper reaction condition of diesel ATR. We achieved relatively high performance of diesel ATR under $H_{2}O/C=0.8$, $O_{2}/C=3$ condition that was based on the experiment of ethylene reforming reaction.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.503-506
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• 2008

Liquid hydrocarbon fuels, such as gasoline, kerosene, diesel and JP 8, can be good candidates for SOFC (solid oxide fuel cell) system fuel due to their high hydrogen density. Autothermal reforming (ATR) is suitable for liquid hydrocarbon fuel reforming because oxygen can decompose the aromatics in liquid fuel and steam can suppress the carbon deposition during catalytic reaction. The advantage of ATR is that it has a simple system construction due to exothermicity of ATR reaction. We control the exothermicity of reaction, make the reaction possible design a self-sustaining ATR reactor. A self-sustained 1kW-class kerosene autothermal reformer is introduced in this paper. The 1kW-class kerosene reformer was continuously operated for about 140 hours without degradation of reforming performance.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.2015-2020
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• 2007

Diesel is an excellent candidate fuel for fuel cell applications due to its high hydrogen density and well-established infrastructure. But, it is hard to guarantee desirable performance of diesel reformer because diesel reforming has several problems such as sulfur poisoning of catalyst and carbon deposition. We have been focusing on diesel autothermal reforming(ATR) for substantial period. It is reported that ATR of diesel has several technical advantages such as relatively high efficiency and fuel conversion compared to steam reforming(SR) and partial oxidation(POX). In this paper, we investigate characteristics of diesel reforming under various ratios of reactants(oxygen to carbon ratio, steam to carbon ratio) for improvement of reforming performances(high reforming efficiency, high fuel conversion, low carbon deposition). We also exhibit calculated heat balance of autothermal reformer at each condition to help thermal management of SOFC system.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.30 no.11 s.254
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• pp.1123-1130
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• 2006

This study discusses about research efforts of hydrogen generation from hydrocarbon(e.g., diesel, gasoline, natural gas, and LPG), especially, butane reforming by using Autothermal Reforming Reaction (ATR) technology. Several catalysts were selected for butane ATR. Thermodynamic reactor conditions (temperature, $O_2$/C, S/C) are varied and reforming characteristics of 2 catalysts (Pt and Rh on ceramic supports) and 1 commercial catalyst (FCR-HC35) have been examined. To understand reaction behaviors in an ATR reactor comprehensively, temperature profiles of reactor were observed. By mass transfer limitation, fuel conversion decreases when GHSV increases. Significant temperature variation along the reactor was observed and it was mainly due reaction kinetics difference between exothermic oxidation and endothermic reforming reaction.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.864-873
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• 2006

As fuel cells approach commercialization, hydrogen production becomes a critical step in the overall energy conversion pathway. Reforming is a process that produces a hydrogen-rich gas from hydrocarbon fuels. Hydrogen production via autothermal reforming (ATR) is particularly attractive for applications that demand a quick start-up and response time in a compact size. However, further research is required to optimize the performance of autothermal reformers and accurate models of reactor performance must be developed and validated. The design includes the requirement of accommodating a wide range of experimental set ups. Factors considered in the design of the reformer are capability to use multiple fuels, ability to vary stoichiometry, precise temperature and pressure control, implementation of enhancement methods, capability to implement variable catalyst positions and catalyst arrangement, ability to monitor and change reactant mixing, and proper implementation of data acquisition. A model of the system was first developed in order to calculate flowrates, heating, space velocity, and other important parameters needed to select the hardware that comprises the reformer. Predicted performance will be compared to actual data once the reformer construction is completed. This comparison will quantify the accuracy of the model and should point to areas where further model development is required. The end result will be a research tool that allows engineers to optimize hydrogen production via autothermal reformation.

• Journal of ILASS-Korea
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.234-243
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• 2006

Diesel autothermal reforming (ATR) is a chemical process to produce hydrogen for fuel cell applications. Several previous studies were carried out to identify technical issues in diesel reforming. It is hard to vaporize diesel due to its high boiling points. Liquid droplets of diesel result in inhomogeneous fuel mixing with other reactants such as $O_2\;and\;H_2O$, which leads to reduce the reforming efficiency and make undesired coke in reactor. To solve the fuel delivery issue, we applied an ultrasonic device as a fuel injection system. Ultrasonic injector (UI) remarkably enhanced the reforming efficiency. This paper will present the reforming results using UI. And we will discuss about atomization effects of diesel on autothermal reforming reaction.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.61-67
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• 2011

The study is to analyze the chemical and heat-flow reactions in the hydrogen generation unit(autothermal reformer), using computational numerical tools. Autothermal reformer(ATR) is involved in complex chemical reaction, mass and heat transfer due to exothermic and endothermic reactions. Therefore it is necessary to reveal the effects of various operation parameters and geometries on the ATR performance by using numerical analysis. Numerical analysis needs to dominant chemical reactions that includes Full Combustion(FC) reaction, Steam Reforming(SR) reaction, Water-Gas Shift(WGS) reaction and Direct Steam Reforming(DSR) reaction. The objective of the study is to improve theoretically the reformer design capability for the goal of high hydrogen production in the autothermal reformer using methane. Hydrogen production reached maximum in a certain value of Oxygen to Carbon Ratio(OCR) or Steam to Carbon Ratio(SCR). When the longitudinal distance to dimeter ratio(L/D) is increased, hydrogen production increases.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.30 no.9 s.252
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• pp.850-857
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• 2006

Hydrogen production using current fueling facilities is essential for near-term applications of fuel cells. A preliminary process for developing a natural gas autothermal reforming (ATR) reactor for fuel cells is presented in this paper. A experimental reactor for methane ATR was constructed and used for characterization of Jin reactor. Temperature profiles of the reactor were observed, and reformed gas compositions were analyzed to evaluate efficiency, conversion and reaction heat with varying amounts of $O_2/CH_4$ at selected furnace temperature and $H_2O/CH_4$. The amount of $O_2/CH_4$ showed strong offsets on reactor temperature, efficiency and conversion indicating that $O_2/CH_4$ is a crucial operation condition. Operation conditions which result in thermal neutrality of ATR reactor system were determined for two cases of an ATR system based on the estimation of enthalpy difference between reactants of assumed inlet temperatures and the products from experimental results. The determined conditions for thermally neutral operations could be used for guidelines to design reformers and for determining the operation parameters of a self sustaining ATR reactor.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.274-282
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• 2004

This study focused on the development of high performance catalyst for autothermal reforming (ATR) of gasoline to produce hydrogen. The ATR was carried out over MgO/Al2O3 supported metal catalysts prepared under various experimental conditions. The catalysts before and after reaction were characterized by N2-physisorption, CO-chemisorption, SEM and XRD. The performance of supported multi-metal catalysts were better than that of supported mono-metal catalysts. Especially, it was observed that the conversion of iso-octane over prepared Ni/Fe/MgO/Al2O3 catalyst was 99.9 % comparable with commercial catalyst (ICI) and the selectivity of hydrogen over the prepared catalyst was 65% higher than ICI catalyst. Furthermore, it was identified that the sulfur tolerance of prepared catalyst was much better than ICI catalyst based on the ATR reaction of iso-octane containing sulfur of 100 ppm. Therefore, Ni/Fe/MgO/Al2O3 catalyst can be applied for a fuel reformer, hydrogen station and on-board reformer in furl cell powered vehicles.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.97.1-97.1
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• 2011

Dimethyl ether (DME) is an attractive fuel as a hydrogen carrier for mobile PEMFC applications. However, its reforming technologies are rarely studied especially by using autothermal reforming (ATR) method. This work explored the impact of operating conditions to the performance of DME ATR. Temperature, Steam to carbon ratio(SCR), Oxygen to carbon ratio(OCR) and Gas hourly space velocity(GHSV) were considered as the operating conditions. As results, conversion efficiency was increased as the temperature increased, but saturated around $700^{\circ}C$. There was no significant effect of SCR on conversion efficiency, but high SCR led reactions in endothermic manner. High OCR substantially suppressed conversion efficiency, but it helped to sustain the temperature by stimulating exothermic reactions. Conversion efficiency was decreased as GHSV increased. The optimized operating conditions was suggested: $700^{\circ}C$, SCR of 1.5, OCR of 0.45 and GHSV below 15000/h and conversion efficiency was ~85% at the conditions.