• 한국연소학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2006.10a
• /
• pp.260-265
• /
• 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 Digital Convergence
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.225-229
• /
• 2012

A reformer for a small fuel cell system is an apparatus which converts hydrocarbon fuel into hydrogen-rich gas. Among many indices of a reformer, the most crucial index of a reformer is CO concentration in the off-gas out of reformer which must be controled under 5ppm for the efficiency and performance of a system. This paper suggests the criteria of a reformer operation for the stability of a reformer in a fuel cell system by deducing crucial indices and improving processes. The six-sigma technique was applied to verify the optimum control and operation of a reformer of a fuel cell combined heat and power system. The result of temperature control of each parts of a reformer system is the concentration of CO which is the most important factor for the operation of a fuel cell system. The temperature of the parts of a reformer, MTS, LTS and Prox, were controled so that the concentration of CO.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers P
• /
• v.58 no.4
• /
• pp.639-643
• /
• 2009

A reformer, which produces hydrogen from natural gas, plays a major role for producing quality hydrogen to fuel-cell system. In this paper, fuel processor is designed to deliver hydrogen(75%) from the reformer to 200W fuel-cell system, and the electrical output power of the fuel-cells is examined by being injected different hydrogen concentrations to the system. We verified that the output power characteristics of the fuel-cells with 75% reformed hydrogen was lower about 7% than the case of pure hydrogen supplied. The type of reformer in this experiment takes SMR(Steam methane reforming) process, and the temperature variation characteristics of reforming process by reactions are examined in operation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Combustion
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.5-10
• /
• 2012

The reformer system is a chemical device that drives the conversion of hydrocarbon to hydrogen rich gas under high temperature environment($600-1,000^{\circ}C$). Generally, NG(Natural Gas) or AOG(Anode Off Gas) is used as fuel of fuel cell reformer combustion system. The experimental study to analyze the combustion characteristics of a premixed ceramic burner used for 0.5-1.0 kW fuel cell reformer was performed. Ceramic burner experiments using NG and AOG were carried out to investigate the flame stability characteristics by heating capacity, equivalence ratio and different fuels respectively. The results show that surface flames can be classified into green, red, blue and lift-off flames as the equivalence ratio of methane-air mixture decreases. And the stable flames can be established using NG and AOG as reformer fuel in the perforated ceramic burner. In particular, the blue flame is found to be stable at a lean equivalence ratio under different mixture conditions of NG and AOG for the 0.5 to 1.0 kW fuel cell system power range. NOx emission is under 60 ppm between 0.70 to 0.78 of equivalence ratio and CO emission is under 50 ppm between 0.70 to 0.84 of equivalence ratio.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
• /
• 2008.11b
• /
• pp.2181-2185
• /
• 2008

Fuel processing systems which convert HC fuel into $H_2$ rich gas (such as stream reforming, partial oxidation, auto-thermal reforming) need high temperature environment($600-1000^{\circ}C$). Generally, anode-off gas or mixture of anode-off gas and LNG is used as input gas of fuel reformer. In order to make efficient and low emission burner system for fuel reformer, it is necessary to elucidate the combustion and emission characteristic of fuel reformer burner. The purpose of this study is to develop a porous premixed flat ceramic burner that can be used for 1-5kW fuel cell reformer. Ceramic burner experiments using natural gas, hydrogen gas, anode off gas were carried out respectively to investigate the flame characteristics by heating capacity and equivalence ratio. Results show that the stable flat flames can be established for natural gas, hydrogen gas, anode off gas and mixture of natural & anode off gas as reformer fuel. For all of fuels, their burning velocities become smaller as the equivalence ratio goes to the lean mixture ratio, and a lift-off occurs at lean limit. Flame length in hydrogen and anode off gas became longer with increasing the heat capacity.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
• /
• 2006.10a
• /
• pp.615-616
• /
• 2006

A micro-fuel processor system integrating steam reformer and partial oxidation reactor was manufactured using low temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC). A CuO/ZnO/$Al_2O_3$ catalyst and Pt-based catalyst prepared by wet impregnation were used for steam reforming and partial oxidation, respectively. The performance of the LTCC micro-fuel processor was measured at various operating conditions such as the effect of the feed flow rate, the ratio of $H_2O/CH_3OH$, and the operating temperature on the LTCC reformer and CO clean-up system. The catalyst layer was loaded with "Fill and Dry" coating for small volume. The product gas was composed of $70\sim75%$ hydrogen, $20\sim25%$ carbon dioxide, and $1\sim2%$ carbon monoxide at $250\sim300^{\circ}C$, respectively.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.21 no.5
• /
• pp.364-374
• /
• 2010

Design of a reformer consisting of combustion chamber and reforming chamber was investigated for a 1 kW and a 5 kW polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), respectively, using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD). First, the 1kW reformer was considered to obtain the reliability of the numerical study. It was modeled, calculated and compared with experimental data. Second, the 5kW reformer was considered for a geometric study. Three tip sizes (35, 40, and 45 mm) and five aspect ratios was selected. It was found that the optimum was at tip sizes of 40 and 45 mm, at aspect ratios of -10% and -20% of the standard length.

• 한국전기화학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2004.06a
• /
• pp.103-108
• /
• 2004

The present paper relates to an apparatus in which all carbonaceous material such as coal, oil, plastics and any substance having carbon atoms as part of its constituents are reformed(gasified) into syngas at temperature above $1,200^{\circ}C$(KR patent No.0391121, and PCT/KR2001/01717 and PCT/KR2004/001020). It comprises a single-stage reforming reactor without catalyst and a syngas burner as shown in Fig.2. syngas is combusted with $O_2$ gas in the syngas bunter to produce $M_2O$ and $CO_2$ gas with exothermic heat. Reaction products are introduced into the reforming reactor, reaction heat from syngas burner elevate the temperature of reactor above $1,200^{\circ}C$, and reaction products reduce carbonaceous material down to CO and $H_2$ gases. Reactants and heat necessary for the reaction are provided through the syngas burner only, Neither $O_2$ gas nor steam are injected into the reforming reactor. Reformer is made of ceramic inner lining and sst outer casing. Multiple syngas burners may be connected to the reforming reactor in order to increase the syngas output, and a portion of the product syngas is recycled into syngas burner. The present reformer as shown in Fig.2 is suitable to gasify carbonaceous wastes without secondary pollutants formed from oxidation. Further, it can be miniaturized to accompany a fuel cell system as shown in Fig.3 The output syngas may be used to drive a fuel cell and a portion of electrical power generated in a fuel cell is used to heat a compact reformer up to $1,200^{\circ}C$ so that gas/liquid fossil fuel can efficiently reformed into syngas. The fuel cell serves as syngas burner in Fig.2. The reformation reaction is sustained through recycling a portion of product syngas into a fuel cell and using a portion of electric power generated to heat the reformer for continuous operation. Such reforming reactor may be miniaturized into a size of PC, then you have a Personal Reformer(PR).

• Journal of ILASS-Korea
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.16-21
• /
• 2008

In the present study, the 2-fluid nozzle and 3-fluid nozzle to atomize the diesel and water with air for the fuel reformer of SOFC system were experimentally examined. In the 2-fluid nozzle, the diesel and water were alternately atomized due to bislug flow pattern, and it implies that the mixing of both liquids strongly affects the atomization pattern. On the other hand, in the 3-fluid nozzle, the diesel and water were atomized simultaneously due to the separated injection channels without mixing problem. Therefore, compared to the 2-fluid nozzle, the 3-fluid nozzle is suitable for the stable operation of the fuel reformer. In case of the 3-fluid nozzle, Type A where the air was supplied through the central channel was the most efficient.

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