• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.357-362
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• 2011

Complete mixture preparation of reactants prior to catalytic reforming is an enormously important step for successful operation of a fuel reformer. Incomplete mixing between fuel and reforming agents such as air and steam can cause temperature overshoot and deposit formation which can lead the failure of operation. For that purpose it is required to apply computational models describing coupled kinetics and transport phenomena in the mixing region, which are computationally expensive. Therefore, it is advantageous to analyze the gas-phase reaction kinetics prior to application of the coupled model. This study suggests one of the important design constraints, the required residence time in the mixing chamber to avoid substantial gas-phase reactions which can lead serious deposit formation on the downstream catalyst. The reactivity of various gaseous and liquid fuels were compared, then liquid fuels are far more reactive than gaseous fuels. n-Octane was used as a surrogate among the various hydrocarbons, which is one of the traditional liquid fuel surrogates. The conversion was slighted effected by reactants composition described by O/C and S/C. Finally, threshold residence times in the mixing region of a hydrocarbon reformer were studied and the mixing chamber is required to be designed to make complete mixture of reactants by tens of milliseconds at the temperature lower than $400^{\circ}C$.

• 한국연소학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.58-63
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• 2005

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.

• 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.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.344-351
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• 2005

Hydrogen energy will be considered one of the most important energy carries for the future not only as raw material of petroleum chemical industry but also as the fuel of the fuel cell. The hydrogen production based upon the water electrolysis system combined renewable energy or atomic power energy is being watched as long-term hydrogen sources. Hydrogen from fossil fuel, especially natural gas steam reforming, is the economical mass production method at this time. But the cost of $CO_2$ reduction is added in the economic analysis of hydrogen production processes. Therefore many different results are suggested from these analyses about old processes, and modified schemes are studying for the efficient development. In this review, status for the technology of hydrogen production from natural gas are summarized.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.356-363
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• 2005

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the optimal condition of the Syngas production by reforming of fuel using plasmatron. Plasma was generated by air and arc discharge. The effects of applied steam, $CO_2$ or Ni-catalyst on fuel conversion, as well as hydrogen yield and $H_2$/CO ratio were studied. When the variations of $O_2$/fuel ratio, $H_2O$/fuel flow ratio and $CO_2$/fuel flow ratio were $0.94{\sim}1.48$, $4.3{\sim}10$ and $0.8{\sim}3.05$, respectively. Under the condition mentioned above, result of $H_2O$/fuel flow ratio was maximum $H_2$ concentration, or $28.2{\sim}31.6%$, and result of $H_2O$/fuel flow ratio with catalyst was minimum CO concentration or $6.6{\sim}7.1%$. and $H_2$/CO ratio were $3.89{\sim}4.86$.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.487-490
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• 2008

Temperature programmed oxidation (TPO) is used to characterize coke species deposited on commercial nickel catalyst, C11-PR during propane pre-reforming. Propane pre-reforming performed under various condition, S/C from 1.5 to 2.5 and temperature from $350^{\circ}C$ to $450^{\circ}C$. There are three kinds of coke species detected by TPO: (i) reactive coke, (ii) coke deposited on metal site and (iii) coke deposited on acid support. Coke deposited on metal and support are minimized although reactive coke is generated at temperature of $400^{\circ}C$ and S/C of 2.0. Reactive coke is expected to remove easily below temperature of $200^{\circ}C$. Therefore, optimized pre-reforming condition for propane is $400^{\circ}C$ and S/C of 2.0.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.320-325
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• 2005

Power of fuel cell tram is supplied by only fuel cell system or hybrid system of fuel cell and battery/super capacity. Fuel cell is operated by hydrogen, which is fed directly from hydrogen tank or by reforming gasoline or methanol into hydrogen. Power system is preferred with hybrid of fuel cell and battery/super capacity since it improves total energy efficiency through interaction of hybrid components and restores energy regenerated by braking. Also, power supply system by fuel cell hybrid should be designed to output optimum energy efficiency depending on driving mode of fuel cell tram.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.69-74
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• 2015

The study investigated numerically the heat transfer and chemical reaction characteristics of a methane-steam reforming by using a 3-dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code (Fluent ver. 16.1). The fuel temperature and its species mole fractions were estimated for various Reynolds number in the reformer tube at different burner temperatures. The catalysts were modeled as the porous medium of nicrome in the reformer tube. We considered radiation effect as well as conduction and convective heat transfer because the methane-steam was reformed at very high temperature condition above 1000 K. For two different Reynolds numbers of 49,000 and 88,000 and the burner temperatures were in the range from 1,100 K to 1,300 K. At a low Reynolds number, the fuel temperature increased, leading to increase in hydrogen reforming. However, fuel temperature and hydrogen reforming decreased because of higher convective heat transfer from relatively low fuel temperature. Moreover, the hydrogen reforming also increased with burner temperature.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.317-323
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• 2018

Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) operates at high temperature, therefor has the advantage of higher power generation and using exhaust heat than other fuel cells. In particular, the reforming reaction can be performed inside the SOFC stack to reduce the cooling of the stack and the burden on the reformer reactor. In this study, the reformer structure, operating characteristics, and thermal efficiency were evaluated for the optimization design of a heat exchanger type reformer of a 1 kW SOFC system.

• 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.