• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.11-18
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• 2018

A high efficiency integrated reforming system for improving the efficiency of the 5 kW PEMFC system used as the back up power of building was studied. The separated reforming system consisted of three parts - A steam reformer with two stage concentric circular shape, a heat exchanger type steam generator and a CO shift reactor. Temperature and steam carbon ratio (SCR) were control variables during operation. The operating conditions were optimized based on the thermal efficiency of the steam reformer as reformate gas composition changes at different temperature. In experiments, water was fully vaporized in the steam generator up to SCR 3.5 and the maximum thermal efficiency was achieved at the operating temperature around $700^{\circ}C$ in the steam reforming reactor. With the results of the separated reforming system research, we improved the shape of high efficiency integrated reformer. The performance evaluation of the integrated reformer was based on optimized operating conditions in SCR 3.5. As a result, the developed integrated reforming system maintained an efficiency of 76% and constant performance over 3,000 hours.

• 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 hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.217-225
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• 2008

A new micro reformer system consisted of a micro reformer, a microcombustor and a micro evaporator was studied experimentally and computationally. In order to satisfy the primary requirements for designing the microcombustor integrated with a micro evaporator, i.e. stable burning in a small confinement and maximum heat transfer through a wall, the present microcombustor is simply cylindrical to be easily fabricated but two-staged (expanding downstream) to feasibly control ignition and stable burning. Results show that the aspect ratio and wall thickness of the microcombustor substantially affect ignition and thermal characteristics. For the optimized design conditions, a premixed microflame was easily ignited in the expanded second stage combustor, moved into the smaller first stage combustor, and finally stabilized therein. A micro reformer system integrated with a modified microcombustor based on the optimized design condition was fabricated. For a typical operating condition, the designed micro reformer system produced 22.3 sccm hydrogen (3.61 W in LHV) in an overall efficiency of 12%.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.225-229
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• 2005

We have designed micro-fuel processor system, which consists of a steam reforming area and a PROX(preferential oxidation) area. Micro-fuel processor system generates $H_2$ rich gas from a methanol. In our experiment, we have integrated micro-fuel processor system using low temperature cofired ceramics (LTCC) process because LTCC is superior to other materials principally due to their high thermal and chemical stability, simpler fabrication processes, and lower materials cost. Therefore, we have studied and integrated micro-fuel processor system containing embedded heaters, cavities, and 3D structures of micro-channel with LTCC. Also we have optimized the LTCC process.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.720-722
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• 2009

This work is mainly focused at developing the hydrogen production unit with the capacity of 20 $Nm^3/h$ of high purity hydrogen. At present steam reforming of natural gas is the preferable method to produce hydrogen at the point of production cost. The developed hydrogen production unit composed of natural gas reformer and pressure swing adsorption system. To improve the thermal efficiency of steam reforming reactor, the internal heat recuperating structure was adopted. The heat contained in reformed gas which comes out of the catalytic beds recovered by reaction feed stream. These features of design reduce the fuel consumption into burner and the heat duty of external heat exchangers, such as feed pre-heater and steam generator. The production rate of natural gas reformer was 41.7 $Nm^3/h$ as a dryreformate basis. The composition of PSA feed gas was $H_2$ 78.26%, $CO_2$ 18.49%, CO 1.43% and $CH_4$ 1.85%. The integrated production unit can produce 21.1 $Nm^3/h$ of high-purity hydrogen (99.997%). The hydrogen production efficiency of the developed unit was more than 58% as an LHV basis.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.800-809
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• 2011

The reaction characteristics of an integrated reactor with steam reformer and catalytic combustor using anode offgas for high temperature fuel cells such as MCFC and SOFC have been experimentally investigated in the present study. The coupled reactor had a coaxial cylindrical shape, and the inner and the outer tube was packed with combustion catalysts and reforming catalysts, respectively. Thus, the endothermic steam reforming could proceed by absorbing heat from catalytic combustion of anode offgas. Results show that increasing inlet temperature and decreasing excess air ratio increased the reformer temperature, which led to the increase in $H_2$ yield. The reforming performance for SOFC conditions was better than that for MCFC conditions since the composition of flammable components became smaller for MCFC cases. Measured reformate composition under various test conditions correlated well with thermal equilibrium composition.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.467-470
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• 2006

For a mobile application such as cellular phone, micro fuel cells should be extremely compact and thin. RHFC can be an alternative solution because RHFC gives higher power density than DMFC and does not need ahydrogen storage vessel In this paper, RHFC using methanol fuel is made as a novel planar design without a PROX. Both reformer and cell are made closely in a same plate to share the heater of reformer with the cell. The PBI membrane is used in the cell. The reason is that high temperature of reformer can cause a performance drop when perfluorosulfonic acid membrane such as Nafion is used such a high temperature operation also guarantees the higher CO tolerance to MEA catalyst. The cell is designed as an air-breathing type which the cathode of the cell is opened to the air. The commercial Cu/ZnO/Al2O3 steam reformer catalyst is packed in reformer channel. The active area of MEA is $11.9cm^2$ and the peak power density was $27.5mW/cm^2$.

• Carbon letters
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.303-307
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• 2008

The studies on integrated operation of fuel cell with fuel processor are very essential prior to its commercialization. In this study, Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) was operated with a fuel processor, which is mainly composed of two parts, methanol steam reforming reaction and preferential oxidation (PROX). In fuel processor, ICI 33-5 (CuO 50%, ZnO 33%, $Al_2O_3$ 8%, BET surface area: $66\;m^2g^{-1}$) catalyst and CuO-$CeO_2$ catalyst were used for methanol steam reforming, preferential oxidation (PROX) respectively. PEMFC was operated by hydrogen fuel generated from fuel processor. The resulting gas from PROX reactor is used to operate PEMFC equipped with our prepared anode and cathode catalyst. PtRu/C catalyst gives more tolerance to CO.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.641-648
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• 2011

Off-gases emitted from the anode of a molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) at high temperatures for power generation are used as fuel in catalytic combustion. The heat generated in the catalytic combustor is utilized as the heat for the endothermic reaction required for steam reforming. Among the various operational conditions of the integrated reactor, we varied the inlet gas compositions of the catalytic combustor according to fuel utilization in the MCFC and the ratio of steam to carbon in the reformer. Subsequently, the thermal behaviors and reaction characteristics of the integrated reactor were investigated experimentally. The fundamental data from this experimental study will be useful for the design and fabrication of a more practical integrated reactor in the future.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.111.1-111.1
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• 2010

This paper focuses on a systematic configuration of steam reforming fuel processor, particularly designed for small and medium sized hydrogen production application. In a typical integration of the fuel processor, there exist significant temperature gradients over the entire system which has negative effect on both catalyst life-time and system performance. Also, the volumetric inefficiency should be avoided to obtain the possible compactness for the commercial purpose. In the present work, the computational analysis will be performed to gain the fundamental insight on the transport phenomena and chemical reactions in the reformer consisting of preheating, steam reforming (SR), and water gas shift (WGS) reaction beds in the flow direction. Also, the fuel processing system includes a top-fired burner providing necessary thermal energy for endothermic catalytic reactor. A fully two-dimensional numerical modeling for a integrated fuel processing system is introduced for in-depth analysis of the heat and mass transport phenomena based on surface kinetics and catalytic process. In the model, water gas shift reaction and decomposition reaction were assumed to be at equilibrium. A kinetic model was developed and then computational results were compared with the experimental data available in the literature. Finally, the case study was done by considering the key parameters, i.e. steam to carbon (S/C) ratio and temperature. The computer-aided models developed in this study can be greatly utilized for the design of advanced fast-paced compact fuel processors research.