• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.363-371
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• 2022

In this study, the operation characteristics of the internal reforming type molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) were studied using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis according to the steam to carbon ratio (S/C ratio), operating temperature, and gas utilization. From the simulation results, the distribution of gas composition due to the electrochemical reaction and the reforming reaction was predicted. The internal reforming type showed a lower temperature difference than the external reforming type MCFC. As the operating temperature decreased, less hydrogen was produced and the performance of the fuel cell also decreased. As the gas utilization rate decreased, more gas was injected into the same reaction area, and thus the performance of the fuel cell increased.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.199-202
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• 2009

본 연구에서는 내부 개질반응에서 사용되는 고함량의 니켈촉매(Ni/Al2O3계열 촉매)제조를 위해, 요소(urea)를 이용한 균일용액 침전법을 이용하여 니켈이 고분산된 52wt% Ni/$Al_2O_3$ 촉매를 제조하였다. 제조 촉매는 BET 표면적, 니켈분산도, 니켈표면적 등 물리.화학적 물성 모두 우수하였으며, 환원 패턴은 상용촉매와 비슷하게 나타났다. 실제 반응온도인 $650^{\circ}C$에서 소성하여 화학흡착을 비교한 결과,상용촉매는 니켈분산도 및 니켈표면적이 감소한 반면 균일용액 침전법으로 제조한 촉매는 거의 변화가 없었다. 개질 성능 또한 상용촉매보다 우수하였는데, 이것은 균일용액 침전법으로 제조한 촉매는 활성점(니켈)이 지지체에 나노사이즈로 고르게 잘 분산되었기 때문이라고 판단하였다. 또한 합성온도 조절을 통해, $650^{\circ}C$ 소성 후에 물성변화를 살펴보았고 합성온도 $85^{\circ}C$에서 고분산 니켈 촉매 제조가 가능하였다.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.411-418
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• 2020

A reformer is a device for producing hydrogen used in fuel cells. Among them, methanol steam reformer uses methanol as fuel, which is present as a liquid at room temperature. It has the advantage of low operating temperature, high energy density, and high hydrogen production. The purpose of this study is to improve the internal flow of the pressure vessel when a bundle of methanol steam reformer in the pressure vessel goes out to a single outlet. An analysis of equilibrium reaction to methanol steam reforming reaction was conducted using Aspen HYSYS^® (Aspen Technology Inc., Bedford, USA), and based on the results, computational analysis was conducted using ANSYS Fluent^® (ANSYS, Inc., Canonsburg, USA). For comparison of the results, the height of the pressure vessel, outlet diameter, and fillet was set as variables, and the optimum geometry was selected by comparing the effects of gravity and the amount of negative pressure.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.731-734
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• 2009

KIER has been developed a compact and highly efficient fuel processor which is one of the key component of the residential PEM fuel cells system. The fuel processor uses methane steam reforming to convert natural gas to a mixture of water, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and unreacted methane. Then carbon monoxide is converted to carbon dioxide in water-gas-shift reactor and preferential oxidation reactor. A start-up time of the fuel processor is about 1h and CO concentration among the final product is maintained less than 5 vol. ppm. To achieve high thermal efficiency of 80% on a LHV basis, an optimal thermal network was designed. Internal heat exchange of the fuel processor is so efficient that the temperature of the reformed gas and the flue gas at the exit of the fuel processor remains less than $100^{\circ}C$. A compact design considering a mixing and distribution of the feed was applied to reduce the reactor volume. The current volume of the fuel processor is 17L with insulation.

• 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.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.652-659
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• 1999

The trend of poisoning of reforming catalyst along with the position of anodic catalyst bed was studied. Keeping the conditions that steam to carbon ratio was 2.5, operating voltage was 0.75 V, current density was $140mA/cm^2$, the unit cell was operated during 24 hrs at a steady state. And then the cell was stopped, the catalysts packed in the position of inlet, middle and outlet were sampled individually and then the amount of carbon, Li and K poisoned were analysed. After 100 hrs operated, the catalysts at the same positions were analysed at the same manner. The result of this experiment was as followings. After 24 hrs operated, the poisoning amounts of Li and K in the catalyst were 0.27 wt% at inlet, 0.23 wt% at middle and the highest value 1.59 wt% at outlet. After 100 hrs, the amount of poisoning is the highest in the catalyst packed at the inlet of unit cell. The performance simulation of unit cell explained these trends of poisoning catalysts. The simulation told that the catalyst in the region of the inlet of unit cell treated the 90% of initial methane flow rate and the highest electrochemical reaction happened in this region. So the catalysts of this region were the most poisoned with carbon, Li and K and also the rate of poisoning is faster than that of the catalyst at other regions. The temperature at the region of outlet of unit cell was $30^{\circ}C$ higher than that of other regions, so more Li, and K vaporized than at other regions and little reforming reaction at this region made the catalysts poisoning rate low.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.813-818
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• 2008

Various additives were added in small amounts on Ni/YSZ anode of SOFC (solid oxide fuel cell) in order to improve reactivity and to inhibit deactivation due to coke deposition during methane reforming using a low mole ratio steam ($H_2O/CH_4=1.5$) at $800^{\circ}C$. Ni/YSZ catalysts added with various perovskites did not show any improvement but exhibited a gradual decrease in the methane conversion. K-doped Ni/YSZ showed a steady increase and maintenance of the conversion up to 42 hours, after which there was an abrupt deactivation of catalyst owing to potassium loss by volatilization. Addition of 5% of $K_2Ti_2O_5$ on Ni/YSZ showed a stable maintenance of the conversion without K loss, and was able to prevent coke formation during a long time operation. Deactivation of catalyst during the reaction was mainly caused by the accumulation of graphidic carbon on the catalyst surface.

• Clean Technology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.329-335
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• 2020

Methanol synthesized from renewable hydrogen and captured CO2 has recently attracted great interest as a sustainable energy carrier for large-scale renewable energy storage. In this study, molten carbonate fuel cell's performance was investigated with the direct conversion of methanol into syngas inside the anode chamber of the cell. The internal reforming of methanol may significantly improve system efficiency since the heat generated from the electrochemical reaction can be used directly for the endothermic reforming reaction. The porous Ni-10 wt%Cr anode was sufficient for the methanol steam reforming reaction under the fuel cell operating condition. The direct supply of methanol into the anode chamber resulted in somewhat lower cell performance, especially at high current density. Recycling of the product gas into the anode gas inlet significantly improved the cell performance. The analysis based on material balance revealed that, with increasing current density and gas recycling ratio, the methanol steam reforming reaction rate likewise increased. A methanol conversion more significant than 90% was achieved with gas recycling. The results showed the feasibility of electricity and syngas co-production using the molten carbonate fuel cell. Further research is needed to optimize the fuel cell operating conditions for simultaneous production of electricity and syngas, considering both material and energy balances in the fuel cell.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.40 no.12
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• pp.793-799
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• 2016

In a hybrid fuel cell system, low-temperature reforming technology, which uses waste heat as a heat source, is applied to improve system efficiency. A low temperature reformer is required to optimize geometry in low thermal conditions so that the reformer can achieve the proper methane conversion rate. This study analyzed internal temperature distributions and the reaction patterns of a reformer by considering the change of the shape factor on the limited heat supply condition. Unlike the case of a high temperature reformer, analysis showed that the reaction of a low temperature reformer takes place primarily in the high temperature region of the reactor exit. In addition, it was confirmed that the efficiency can be improved by reducing the GHSV (gas hourly space velocity) or increasing the heat transfer area in the radial direction. Through reacting characteristic analysis, according to change of the aspect ratio, it was confirmed that a low temperature reformer can improve the efficiency by increasing the heat transfer in the radial direction, rather than in the longitudinal direction.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.69-76
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• 2008

Common methods for large scale hydrogen production, such as steam reforming and coal gasification, also involve production of carbonaceous gases. It is therefore necessary to handle process gas streams involving various mixtures of hydrocarbons, $H_2$, $H_2O$, CO and $CO_2$ at moderate to high temperatures. These gases pose a variety of corrosion threats to the alloys used in plant construction. Carbon is a particularly aggressive corrodent, leading to carburisation and, at high carbon activities, to metal dusting. The behaviour of commercial heat resisting alloys 602CA and 800, together with that of 304 stainless steel, was studied during thermal cycling in $CO/CO_2$ at $650-750^{\circ}C$, and also in $CO/H_2/H_2O$ at $680^{\circ}C$. Thermal cycling caused repeated scale separation, which accelerated chromium depletion from the alloy subsurface regions. The $CO/H_2/H_2O$ gas, with $a_C=2.9$ and $p(O_2)=5\times10^{-23}$ atm, caused relatively rapid metal dusting, accompanied by some internal carburisation. In contrast, the $CO/CO_2$ gas, with $a_C=7$ and $p(O_2)=10^{-23}-10^{-24}$ atm caused internal precipitation in all three alloys, but no dusting. Inward diffusion of oxygen led to in situ oxidation of internal carbides. The very different reaction morphologies produced by the two gas mixtures are discussed in terms of competing gas-alloy reaction steps.