• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.942-948
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• 2007

Popular techniques for producing hydrogen by converting methane include steam reforming and catalyst reforming. However, these are high temperature and high pressure processes limited by equipment, cost and difficulty of operation. Low temperature plasma is projected to be a technique that can be used to produce high concentration hydrogen from methane. It is suitable for miniaturization and fur application in other technologies. In this research, the effect of changing each of the following variables was studied using an AC GlidArc system that was conceived by the research team: the gas components ratio, the gas flow rate, the catalyst reactor temperature and voltage. Results were obtained for methane and hydrogen yields and intermediate products. The system used in this research consisted of 3 electrodes and an AC power source. In this study, air was added fur the partial oxidation reaction of methane. The result showed that as the gas flow rate, the catalyst reactor temperature and the electric power increased, the methane conversion rate and the hydrogen concentration also increased. With $O_2/C$ ratio of 0.45, input flow rate of 4.9 l/min and power supply of 1 kW as the reference condition, the methane conversion rate, the high hydrogen selectivity and the reformer energy density were 69.2%, 32.6% and 35.2% respectively.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2022

Interest in hydrogen productions that do not emit carbon dioxide and can produce hydrogen at a low price is increasing. Reforming and electrolysis are widely used, but they have limitations, such as carbon dioxide problems and costs. The methane can be decomposed as hydrogen and solid carbon without carbon dioxide emission at high temperatures. In this research, the methane pyrolysis experiment was conducted at 1,200℃ and 1,400℃ in a ceramic tube. The composition of the produced gas was measured by gas chromatography before carbon blocked the tube. The methane conversion rate and hydrogen selectivity were calculated based on the results. The hydrogen selectivity was derived as 60% and 55% at the highest point at 1,200℃ and 1,400℃, respectively. The produced solid carbon was expected to be carbon black and was analyzed using scanning electron microscope.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.391-398
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• 1998

The effect of culture medium copper availability on the specific growth rate(${\mu}$) and carbon conversion efficiency (CCE) was sutided for an obligatory methanotroph Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b under various combinations of carbon and nitrogen sources. Methane or methanol was used as a carbon source, and nitrate or ammonium was used as a nitrogen source. Medium copper availability determined the intracellular location or kind of methane monooxygenase (MMO), cell-membrane (particulate or pMMO) when copper was present and cytoplasm (soluble or sMMO) when copper was deficient. When methane was used as a carbon source, copper-containing medium exhibited higher ${\mu}$ and CCE than copper-free medium regardless of the kind of nitrogen source. When methanol was used as a carbon source, however, the effect of copper disappeared. Ammonium gave the higher ${\mu}$ and CCE than nitrate for both methane and methanol. Those observation suggest that there exist an important difference in energy utilization efficiency for methane assimilation between sMMO and pMMO.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.132-139
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• 2007

Popular techniques for producing synthesis gas by converting methane include steam reforming and catalyst reforming. However, these are high temperature and high pressure processes limited by equipment, cost and difficulty of operation. Low temperature plasma is projected to be a technique that can be used to produce high concentration hydrogen from methane. It is suitable for miniaturization and for application in other technologies. In this research, the effect of changing each of the following variables was studied using an AC Glidarc system that was conceived by the research team: the gas components ratio, the gas flow rate, the catalyst reactor temperature and voltage. Glidarc plasma reformer was consisted of 3 electrodes and an AC power source. And air was added for the partial oxidation reaction of methane. The result showed that as the gas flow rate, the catalyst reactor temperature and the electric power increased, the methane conversion rate and the hydrogen concentration also increased. With $O_2/C$ ratio of 0.45, input flow rate of 4.9 l/min and power supply of 1 kW as the reference condition, the methane conversion rate, the high hydrogen selectivity and the reformer energy density were 69.2%, 36.2% and 35.2% respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.325-330
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• 2015

Performance of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), in comparison with that under hydrogen fuel, were investigated under direct internal reforming conditions. Anode supported cells were fabricated with an Ni+YSZ anode, YSZ electrolyte, and LSM+YSZ cathode for the present work. Measurements of I-V curves and impedance were conducted with S/C (steam to carbon) ratio of ~ 2 at $800^{\circ}C$. The outlet gas was analyzed using gas chromatography under open circuit condition; the methane conversion rate was calculated and found to be ~ 90% in the case of low flow rate of methane and steam. Power density values were comparable for both cases (hydrogen fuel and internal steam reforming of methane), and in the latter case the cell performance was improved, with a decrease in the flow rate of methane with steam, because of the higher conversion rate. The present work indicates that the short-term performance of SOFCs with conventional Ni+YSZ anodes, in comparison with that under hydrogen fuel, is acceptable under internal reforming condition with the optimized fuel flow rate and S/C ratio.

• 한국연소학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.64-68
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• 2005

Methane reforming processes to obtain hydrogen were investigated experimentally by using atmospheric plasma source. Among possible reforming processes, such as a $CO_2$ reforming(dry reforming), a partial oxidation (POx), a steam reforming(SR), and a steam reforming with oxygen(SRO or auto-thermal reforming), partial oxidation and the steam reforming with oxygen were considered. We choose a rotating arc plasma as an atmospheric plasma source, since it shows the best performances in our preliminary tests in terms of a methane conversion, a hydrogen production, and a power consumption. Then, the effects of a feeding flow-rate, an electrical power input to a plasma reaction, an $O_2/C$ ratio and a steam to carbon ratio in the case of SRO on the reforming characteristics were observed systematically. As results, at a certain condition almost 100% of methane conversion was obtained and we could achieve the same hydrogen production rate by consuming a half of electrical power which was used by the best results for other researchers.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.38-46
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• 2023

Carbon neutrality policies have been strengthened to reduce emissions, and the importance of technology road maps has been emphasized. In the global industrial boiler market, carbon neutrality is implemented through fuel diversification of methane-hydrogen mixture gas. However, various problems such as flashback and flame unstability arise. There is a limit to implementing the actual system as it remains in the early stage. Therefore, it is necessary to secure the source technology of methane-hydrogen hybrid combustion system applicable to industrial fields. In this study, control program for methane-hydrogen fuel conversion was developed to expect various parameters. After determining the hydrogen mixing ratio and the input air flow, the fuel conversion control algorithm was constructed to get the parameters that achieve the target oxygen concentration in the exhaust gas. LabVIEW program was used to derive correlations among hydrogen mixing rate, oxygen concentration in exhaust gas, input amount of air and heating value.

• New & Renewable Energy
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.40-49
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• 2021

This paper explains the development process of methane decomposition to hydrogen and carbon black using solar thermal energy. It also demonstrates the advantages and disadvantages of five different reactors for each development stage, including the reactor's experimental results. Starting with the initial direct heating type reactor, the indirect heating type reactor was developed through five modifications. The 40-kWth solar furnace installed at the Korea Institute of Energy Research was used for the experiment. In the experiment using the developed indirect heating reactor, an 89.0% methane to hydrogen conversion rate was achieved at a methane flow rate of 40 L/min, obtained at about twice the flow rate compared to previous advanced studies.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.570-576
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• 2014

LFG (Land-Fill Gas) includes components of $CH_4$, $CO_2$, $O_2$, $N_2$, and water. The preparation of synthesis gas from LFG as a DME (Dimethyl Ether) feedstock was studied by methane reforming of $CO_2$, $O_2$ and steam over NiO-MgO-$CeO_2$/$Al_2O_3$ catalyst. Our experiments were performed to investigate the effects of methane conversion and syngas ratio on the amount of LFG components over NiO-MgO-$CeO_2$/$Al_2O_3$ catalyst. Results were obtained through the activity reaction experiments at the temperature of $900^{\circ}C$ and GHSV of 4,000. The results were as following; it has generally shown that methane conversion rate increased with the increase of oxygen and carbon dioxide amounts. Highly methane conversion of 92~93% and syngas ratio of approximately 1.0 were obtained in the feed of gas composition flow-rate of 243ml/min of $CH_4$, 241ml/min of $CO_2$, 195ml/min of $O_2$, 48ml/min of $N_2$, and 360ml/min of water, respectively, under reactor pressure of 15 bar for 50 hrs of reaction time. Also, it was shown that catalyst deactivation by coke formation was reduced by excessively adding oxygen and steam as an oxidizer of the methane reforming.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.362-370
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• 2006

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the reforming characteristics and optimum operating condition of the plasmatron assisted $CH_4$ reforming reaction for the hydrogen-rich gas production. Also, in order to increase the hydrogen production and the methane conversion rate, parametric screening studies were conducted, in which there were the variations of the $CH_4$ flow ratio, $CO_2$ flow ratio, vapor flow ratio, mixing flow ratio and catalyst addition in reactor. High temperature plasma flame was generated by air and arc discharge. The air flow rate and input electric power were fixed 5.1 l/min and 6.4 kW, respectively. When the $CH_4$ flow ratio was 38.5%, the production of hydrogen was maximized and optimal methane conversion rate was 99.2%. Under these optimal conditions, the following synthesis gas concentrations were determined: $H_2$, 45.4%; CO, 6.9%; $CO_2$, 1.5%; and $C_2H_2$, 1.1%. The $H_2/CO$ ratio was 6.6, hydrogen yield was 78.8% and energy conversion rate was 63.6%.