• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.282-287
• /
• 2005

Palladium membranes, which are permselective to hydrogen separation, were used for the hydrogen purification and in membrane reactors for improving conversions by shifting the reaction equilibrium. Palladium/ceramic composite membranes were prepared by electroless plating technique and then etched in titanium chloride ($TiCl_4$) as a post treatment to enhance the membrane's durability. These membranes were used for membrane reactors in water gas shift (WGS) reaction. CO conversions for the membrane reactor were obtained according to experimental parameters and compared to the traditional reactor without a palladium/ceramic membrane. As a result, CO conversion using palladium membrane reactor at an appropriate condition was over 20~25% greater than that without the membrane reactor. The stability in the long-term test of up to 120 h for WGS reaction with the membrane reactor was good without the degredation of CO conversion.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.56 no.3
• /
• pp.1022-1028
• /
• 2024

A neutronics study of a supercritical CO₂-cooled fast reactor core for nuclear propulsion has been performed in this work. The thermal power of the reactor core is 30 MWth and a ceramic UO₂ fuel can be used to achieve a 20-year lifetime without refueling. In order to make a compact core with inherent safety features, the drum-type reactivity control system and folding-type shutdown system are adopted. In addition, we suggest a cold shutdown system using gadolinium as a spectral shift absorber (SSA) against flooding. Although there is a penalty of U-235 enrichment for the core embedded with the cold shutdown system, it effectively mitigates the increment of reactivity at the flooding of seawater. In this study, the neutronics analyses have been performed by using the continuous energy Monte Carlo Serpent 2 code with the evaluated nuclear data file ENDF/B-VII.1 Library. The supercritical CO₂-cooled fast reactor core is characterized in view of important safety parameters such as the reactivity worth of reactivity control systems, fuel temperature coefficient (FTC), coolant temperature coefficient (CTC), and coolant temperature-density coefficient (CTDC). We can say that the suggested core has inherent safety features and enough flexibility for load-following operation.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.56 no.4
• /
• pp.1165-1203
• /
• 2024

In the paper we validate theoretical models of the pulse against experimental data from the Jozef Stefan Institute TRIGA Mark II research reactor. Data from all pulse experiments since 1991 have been collected, analysed and are publicly available. This paper summarizes the validation study, which is focused on the comparison between experimental values, theoretical predictions (Fuchs-Hansen and Nordheim-Fuchs models) and calculation using computational program Improved Pulse Model. The results show that the theoretical models predicts higher maximum power but lower total released energy, full width at half maximum and the time when the maximum power is reached is shorter, compared to Improved Pulse Model. We evaluate the uncertainties in pulse physical parameters (maximum power, total released energy and full width at half maximum) due to uncertainties in reactor physical parameters (inserted reactivity, delayed neutron fraction, prompt neutron lifetime and effective temperature reactivity coefficient of fuel). It is found that taking into account overestimated correlation of reactor physical parameters does not significantly affect the estimated uncertainties of pulse physical parameters. The relative uncertainties of pulse physical parameters decrease with increasing inserted reactivity. If all reactor physical parameters feature an uncorrelated uncertainty of 10 % the estimated total uncertainty in peak pulse power at 3 $ inserted reactivity is 59 %, where significant contributions come from uncertainties in prompt neutron lifetime and effective temperature reactivity coefficient of fuel. In addition we analyse contribution of two physical mechanisms (Doppler broadening of resonances and neutron spectrum shift) that contribute to the temperature reactivity coefficient of fuel. The Doppler effect contributes around 30 %-15 % while the rest is due to the thermal spectrum hardening for a temperature range between 300 K and 800 K.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.465-473
• /
• 2011

To find the optimum mixing ratio of WGS catalyst with $CO_2$ absorbent for SEWGS process, water gas shift reaction tests were carried out in a fluidized bed reactor using commercial WGS catalyst and sand (as a substitute for $CO_2$ absorbent). WGS catalyst content, gas velocity, and steam/CO ratio were considered as experimental variables. CO conversion increased as the catalyst content increased during water gas shift reaction. Variations of the CO conversion with the catalyst content were small at low gas velocity. However, those variations increased at higher gas velocity. Within experimental range of this study, the optimum operating condition(steam/CO ratio=3, gas velocity = 0.03 m/s, catalyst content=10 wt.%) to get high CO conversion and $CO_2$ capture efficiency was confirmed. Moreover, long time water gas shift reaction tests up to 20 hours were carried out for two cases (catalyst content = 10 and 20 wt.%) and we could conclude that the WGS reactivity at those conditions was maintained up to 20 hours.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
• /
• 1995.10a
• /
• pp.41-47
• /
• 1995

A parametric study bas been performed for the various refueling schemes of CANDU 6 reactor loaded with reference DUPIC fuel. The optimum discharge burnup was determined such that the peak bundle power is minimized for the equilibrium core. Based on the results of instantaneous core calculation using patterned random age distributions, it was decided to perform the refueling simulations only for 2-bundle and 4-bundle shift refueling schemes. The 600 FPD simulation has shown that the operational margins of the channel and bundle power to the license limits are 7.9% and 17.1%, respectively, for 2-bundle shift refueling scheme. The 4-bundle shift refueling scheme also satisfies the license limits and the operational margins of the channel and bundle power are 7.1% and 9.8%, respectively. The result of refueling simulation indicate the possibility of using reference DUPIC fuel in current CANDU 6 reactor.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.45 no.6
• /
• pp.656-662
• /
• 2007

Fuel reformer using plasma and shift reactor for CO oxidation were designed and manufactured as $H_2$ supply device to operate a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). $H_2$ selectivity was increased by non-thermal plasma reformer using GlidArc discharge with Ni catalyst simultaneously. Shift reactor was consisted of steam generator, low temperature shifter, high temperature shifter and preferential oxidation reactor. Parametric screening studies of fuel reformer were conducted, in which there were the variations of the catalyst temperature, gas component ratio, total gas ratio and input power. and parametric screening studies of shift reactor were conducted, in which there were the variations of the air flow rate, stema flow rate and temperature. When the $O_2/C$ ratio was 0.64, total gas flow rate was 14.2 l/min, catalytic reactor temperature was $672^{\circ}C$ and input power 1.1 kJ/L, the production of $H_2$ was maximized 41.1%. And $CH_4$ conversion rate, $H_2$ yield and reformer energy density were 88.7%, 54% and 35.2% respectively. When the $O_2/C$ ratio was 0.3 in the PrOx reactor, steam flow ratio was 2.8 in the HTS, and temperature were 475, 314, 260, $235^{\circ}C$ in the HTS, LTS, PrOx, the conversion of CO was optimized conditions of shift reactor using simulated reformate gas. Preheat time of the reactor using plasma was 30 min, component of reformed gas from shift reactor were $H_2$ 38%, CO<10 ppm, $N_2$ 36%, $CO_2$ 21% and $CH_4$ 4%.

• Korean Membrane Journal
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.1-7
• /
• 1999

Pd-ceramic composite membranes and catalytic membrane reactors(CMR) have been studied for hydrogen and its isotopes (deuterium and tritium) purification and recovery in the fusion reactor fuel cycle. Particularly a closed-loop process has been studied for recovering tritium from tritiated water by means of a CMR in which the water gas shift reaction takes place. The development of the techniques for coating micro-porous ceramic tubes with Pd and Pd/Ag thin layers is described : P composite membranes have been produced by electroless deposition (Pd/Ag film of 10-20 $\mu$m) and rolling of thin metal sheets (Pd and Pd/Ag membranes of 50-70 $\mu$m). Experimental results of the electroless membranes have shown a not complete hydrogen selectivity because of the presence of some defects(micro-holes) in the metallic thin layer. Conversely the rolled thin Pd and Pd/ag membranes have separated hydrogen from the other gases with a complete selectivity giving rise to a slightly larger (about a factor 1.7) mass transfer resistance with respect to the electroless membranes. Experimental tests have confirmed the good performances of the rolled membranes in terms of chemical stability over several weeks of operation. Therefore these rolled membranes and CMR are adequate for applications in the fusion reactor fuel cycle as well as in the industrial processes where high pure hydrogen is required (i.e. hydrocarbon reforming for fuel cell)

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.31 no.10
• /
• pp.855-859
• /
• 2007

Hydrogen as an energy carrier in fuel cell offers perhaps the largest potential benefits of reduced emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases. The generation of high-purity hydrogen from hydrocarbon fuels is essential for efficient operation of fuel cell. Reduction of carbon monoxide to an acceptable level of 10ppm involves high temperature and low temperature water gas shift (WGS), followed by selective oxidation of residual carbon monoxide. The WGS reactor was designed and tested in this study to produce hydrogen-rich gas with CO to less than 5000 ppm. In the water gas shift operation, gas emerges from the reformer is taken through a high temperature shift (HTS) catalyst to reduce the CO concentration to about $2{\sim}4%$ followed to about 5000 ppm via a low temperature shift (LTS) catalyst.

• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
• /
• v.22 no.6
• /
• pp.905-912
• /
• 2011

In this study, the novel concept catalytic reactor was designed for water-gas shift reaction (WGS) under high pressure. The novel concept catalytic reactor was composed of an autoclave, the catalyst, and liquid water. Cu-ZnO/$Al_2O_3$ as the low temperature shift catalyst was used for WGS reaction. WGS in the novel concept catalytic reactor was carried out at the ranges of 150~$250^{\circ}C$ and 30~50 atm. The liquid water was filled at the bottom of the autoclave catalytic reactor and the catalyst of pellet type was located at the gas-liquid water interface. It was concluded that WGS reaction occurred over the surface of catalysts partially wetted with liquid water. The conversion of CO for WGS was also controlled with changing content of Cu and ZnO used as the catalytic active components. Meanwhile, the catalyst of honey comb type coated with Cu-ZnO/$Al_2O_3$ was used in order to increase the contact area between wet-surface of catalyst and the reactants of gas phase. It was confirmed from these experiments that $H_2$/CO ratio of the simulated coal gas increased from 0.5 to 0.8 by WGS at gas-liquid water interface over the wet surface of honey comb type catalyst at $250^{\circ}C$ and 50 atm.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.51 no.4
• /
• pp.455-459
• /
• 2013

The fuel processor for the portable fuel cell includes multi-step processes consisting of hydrogen generator, heat generator and several CO clean-up stages. One of requirements of the fuel processor for portable fuel cell system is a rapid start-up time. Especially, the warm-up time for WGS reactor is crucial factors for total start-up time. In this paper, active heating protocol, which is the heating protocol of WGS reactor supplied by the oxidation of CO rich reformate in the initial stage, is used for a rapid start-up. The air stream fed to the inlet of WGS reactor rapidly oxidize the CO rich reformate in the WGS reactor. Therefore, CO concentration in reformate quickly stabilized at the desired concentration without CO surges.