• 한국연소학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.10a
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• pp.260-265
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• 2006

An experimental study on the catalytic reformer adopted in the auxiliary power unit system of solid oxide fuel cell was conducted. A 3-fluid nozzle, by which liquid fuel such as diesel, water and air are sprayed and uniformed mixed, was designed and used in this study. An electrically heated monolith inserted in the reformer was used for the vaporization of fuel and water in the transient state of reformer. The reformer uses the partial oxidizing reaction at the catalyst and the supply of water prevents the flame combustion in the spraying zone and lessens the deactivation of catalyst. The result showed that the reforming of liquid fuel can be started by the electrically heated monolith and the 3-fluid nozzle can give the uniform mixing of fuel, water and air. It was also found that the reformer fueled by n-hexadecane can make the reformate, at best, containing $H_2$ at 15.5% and CO at 11.5% that are used as fuel in the solid oxide fuel cell.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Combustion
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.1-7
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• 2007

A combined hydrogen generator of plasma and catalytic reformer was developed, and was applied to stabilize unstable flame of 200,000 Kcal/hr LPG combustor. The role of the plasma reformer was to generate hydrogen in a short period and to heat-up the catalytic reformer during the start-up time. After the start-up period, the catalytic reformer generates hydrogen through steam reforming with oxygen (SRO) reactions. The maximum capacity of the hydrogen generator was enough 100 lpm to stabilize the flame of the present combustor. In order to reduce NOx and CO emissions simultaneously, 1) FGR (Flue Gas Recirculation) technique has been adopted and 2) the hydrogen was added into the fuel supplied to the combustor. Test results showed that the addition of 25% hydrogen and 30% FGR rate lead to simultaneous decrease of CO and NOx emissions. The technique developed in the present study showed good potential to replace $NH_3$ SCR technique, especially in the small-scale combustor applications.

• 한국연소학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.05a
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• pp.187-190
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• 2007

A combined hydrogen generator of plasma and catalytic reformers has been developed, and has been applied to stabilize unstable flame of 200,000 Kcal/hr LPG combustor. The role of the plasma reformer is to generate hydrogen in a short period and to heat-up the catalytic reformer during the start-up time. After the start-up period, the catalytic reformer generates hydrogen through steam reforming with oxygen (SRO) reactions. The maximum capacity of the hydrogen generator is 100 lpm that is sufficient to be used to stabilize the flame of the present combustor. In order to reduce NOx and CO emissions simultaneously, 1) FGR (Flue Gas Recirculation) technique has been adopted and 2) the hydrogen has been added into the fuel supplied to the combustor. Test results shows that 25 % addition of hydrogen and 30 % FGR rate lead to simultaneous decrease of CO and NOx emissions. The technique proposed in the present study shows good potential to replace $NH_3$ SCR technique, especially in the case of small-scale combustor applications.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.30 no.12 s.255
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• pp.1196-1202
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• 2006

A MEMS methanol reformer was fabricated and its performance was evaluated in the present study. Catalytic steam reforming of methanol was selected because the process had been widely applied in macro scale reformers. Conventional Cu/ZnO catalyst that was prepared by co-precipitation method to give the highest coating quality was used. The reactor structure was made by bonding three layers of glass wafers. The internal structure of the wafer was fabricated by the wet-etching process that resulted in a high aspect ratio. The internal surface of the reactor was coated by catalyst and individual wafers were fusion-bonded to form the reactor structure. The internal volume of the microfabricated reactor was $0.3cm^3$ and the reactor produced exhaust gas with hydrogen concentration at 73%. The production rate of hydrogen was 4.16 ml/hr that could generate power of 350 mW in a typical PEM fuel cell.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.364-377
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• 2014

The performances of a coupled reactor in which a steam reformer and a catalytic combustor were mounted simultaneously had been investigated and compared. The combustible offgas exhausted from the anode of SOFC and MCFC were utilized as heat sources for the endothermic steam methane reforming. The catalytic combustion was used in order to burn the combustible offgas. Thermal energy released by the catalytic combustion is directly transferred to the reformer surrounding the combustor. The various operational conditions such as fuel utilization rate, steam to carbon ratio, amount of catalysts, fuel cell loads were changed. And operating variables were comprehensively identified by sensitivity analysis. The fundamental results from this experimental study show the potential abilities of the coupled reactor. Therefore the results will be of help to design and manufacture the more better coupled reactor in the future.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.156.1-156.1
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• 2011

It is of great importance to predict operating parameter characteristics of an integrated fuel processor by the increased life-time and system performance. In this study, computational analysis is performed to gain fundamental insights on transport phenomena and chemical reactions in reformer which consists of preheating, steam reforming, and water gas shift reaction beds. Also, a top-fired burner locates inside of the reforming system. The combustor is providing thermal energy necessary for the steam reforming bed which is a endothermic catalytic reactor. Two-dimensional numerical model of the integrated fuel processing system is introduced for the analysis of heat and mass transport phenomena as well as surface kinetics and catalytic process. A kinetic model was developed and then computational results were compared with the experimental data available in the literature. Subsequently, parameter study using the validated steam methane reforming model was conducted by considering operating parameters, i.e. steam to carbon ratio and temperature.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.60-68
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• 2009

The steam reformer for hydrogen production from methane is studied by a numerical method. Langmuir- Hinshelwood model is incorporated for catalytic surface reactions, and the pseudo-homogeneous model is used to take into account local equilibrium phenomena between a catalyst and bulk gas. Dominant chemical reactions are Steam Reforming (SR) reaction, Water-Gas Shift (WGS) reaction, and Direct Steam Reforming (DSR) reaction. The numerical results are validated with experimental results at the same operating conditions. Using the validated code, parametric study has been numerically performed in view of the steam reformer performance. As increasing a wall temperature, the fuel conversion increases due to the high heat transfer rate. When Steam to Carbon Ratio (SCR) increases, the concentration of carbon monoxide decreases since WGS reaction becomes more active. When increasing Gas Hourly Space Velocity (GHSV), the fuel conversion decreases due to the heat transfer limitation and the low residence time. The reactor shape effects are also investigated. The length and radius of cylindrical reactors are changed at the same catalyst volume. The longer steam reformer is, the better steam reformer performs. However, system energy efficiency decreases due to the large pressure drop.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2007.05b
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• pp.1997-2002
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• 2007

The reformer is one of the most important chemical processes for the production of high purity hydrogen from fossil fuel. This study compares zero-dimensional model with CFD models for reaction analysis of methane-steam reformer. The zero-dimensional model is an empirical equation, however CFD model uses reactions of Arrhenius type. Because the reaction coefficients of the steam-methane catalytic reforming have not been reported before in the form of Arrhenius type, the present study aims to find the appropriate reaction coefficients. The used CFD code is Fluent 6.2 version. Several models are compared for the case of various operating temperature, mass of catalyst and steam to methane ratio.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.5-8
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• 2007

In this paper, numerical investigation has been carried out to study performance of methane autothermal reformer and dynamic behavior for light-off under various operating conditions. In order to simulate the given problems, numerical methods are incorporated using finite-volume method. In addition, porous medium approach is accepted because the catalytic phenomena occur in porous media. Also, start-up issue is significant in autothermal reformer although the reaction is marginally exothermic. Thus, in this study transient behavior has been also investigated to find out optimal operating conditions for start-up.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.33 no.9
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• pp.709-717
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• 2009

Heat transfer rate is a very important factor for the performance of a steam reformer because a steam reforming reaction is an endothermic reaction. Coaxial cylindrical reactor is the reactor design which can improve the heat transfer rate. Temperature, fuel conversion and heat flux in the coaxial cylindrical steam reformer are studied in this paper using numerical method under various operating conditions. Langmuir-Hinshelwood model and pseudo-homogeneous model are incorporated for the catalytic surface reaction. Dominant chemical reactions are assumed as a Steam Reforming (SR) reaction, a Water-Gas Shift (WGS) reaction, and a Direct Steam Reforming (DSR) reaction. Although coaxial cylindrical steam reformer uses 33% less amount of catalyst than cylindrical steam reformer, its fuel conversion is increased 10 % more and its temperature is also high as about 30 degree. There is no heat transfer limitation near the inlet area at coaxial-type reactor. However, pressure drop of the coaxial cylindrical reactor is 10 times higher than that of cylindrical reactor. Operating parameters of coaxial cylindrical steam reformer are the wall temperature, the inlet temperature, and the Gas Hourly Space Velocity (GHSV). When the wall temperature is high, the temperature and the fuel conversion are increased due to the high heat transfer rate. The fuel conversion rate is increased with the high inlet temperature. However, temperature drop clearly occurs near the inlet area since an endothermic reaction is active due to the high inlet temperature. When GHSV is increased, the fuel conversion is decreased because of the heat transfer limitation and short residence time.