• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.89-94
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• 2012

Pyrolysis/gasification technology utilizes an energy conversion technique from various waste resources, such as biomass, solid waste, sewage sludge, and etc. to generating a syngas (synthesis gas). However, one of the major problems for the pyrolysis gasification is the presence of tar in the product gas. The tar produced might cause damages and operating problems on the facility. In this study, a gliding arc plasma reformer was developed to solve the previously acknowledged issues. An experiment was conducted using surrogate benzene and naphthalene, which are generated during the pyrolysis and/or gasification, as the representative tar substance. To identify the characteristics of the influential parameters of tar decomposition, tests were performed on the steam feed amount (steam/carbon ratio), input discharge power (specific energy input, SEI), total feed gas amount and the input tar concentration. In benzene, the optimal operating conditions of the gliding arc plasma 2 in steam to carbon (S/C) ratio, 0.98 $kWh/m^3$ in SEI, 14 L/min in total gas feed rate and 3.6% in benzene concentration. In naphthalene, 2.5 in S/C ratio, 1 $kWh/m^3$ in SEI, 18.4 L/min in total gas feed rate and 1% in naphthalene concentration. The benzene decomposition efficiency was 95%, and the energy efficiency was 120 g/kWh. The naphthalene decomposition efficiency was 79%, and the energy yield was 68 g/kWh.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.733-742
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• 2022

Hydrogen fuel cell propulsion ships are emerging to respond to the recently strengthened carbon emission regulations in the international shipping sector. Methanol can be stored in a liquid state at normal pressure and temperature, and has the advantage of lower reforming temperature compared to other fuels. In this study, the optimal operating point of the methanol steam reforming system was derived by changing the Steam Carbon Ratio (SCR) from 0.10 to 3.00. Results showed that In terms of methanol conversion rate and hydrogen yield, the larger the SCR is the better, but in terms of system efficiency, it is most advantageous to operate at SCR 0.70 in Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) mode and SCR 0.80 in Pd membrane mode. Through this study, it was found that the optimal SCR in the reformer and the entire system including the reformer may be different, which indicates that the optimum operating point may be different depending on the change of the system configuration.

• 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.11 no.4
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• pp.149-159
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• 2000

This paper is concerned with the performence of a steam reformer for 25kW class MCFC, which is compared with the theoretically calculated results at various operating conditions. The theoretical $H_2$ production amount and $CH_4$ conversion rate are calculated with variations of temperature and steam/carbon (S/C) ratio using fortran program, and the actual values are measured from flowmeter and gas chromatography. As a result of the comparison of theoretical and actual values, the theoretical $H_2$ production amount is calculated by $24.4m^3/hr$ at the normal operating condition(LNG $9m^3/hr$, S/C ratio 5, absolute pressure $2.77kg/cm^2$, $610^{\circ}C$), but the actual production amount is only $19.4m^3/hr$, which is 79.5% of the theoretical value. Nevertheless, at the normal operating condition, the reformer for 25kW class MCFC performed well for a 2,100 hr long run operation, constantly producing $H_2$.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.560-566
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• 1999

PDTF (Pressurized drop tube furnace) experiments using variations of temperature, oxygen/coal ratio, steam/coal and pressure with Roto coal (Sub A) were performed in order to investigate the effects of these experimental parameters on global gasification characteristics at elevated pressure. The results shows that the gasification at elevated pressure is more profitable than that at atmospheric pressure considering the carbon conversion and cold gas efficiency. The oxygen/coal ratio at which maximum cold gas efficiency was appeared ranged from 0.5 to 0.7 g/g. only when the temperature is sufficiently high enough, the raise of steam/coal ratio brings improvement of cold gas efficiency. As the pressure increased, the volume of carbon conversion by heterogeneous reaction increased but the volume of carbon conversion by pyrolysis decreased relatively.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.247-250
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• 2008

Biomass gasification is a promising technology for producing a fuel gas which is useful for power generation systems. In biomass gasification processes, tar formation often causes some problems such as pipeline plugging. Thus, proper tar treatment is necessary. So far, nickel (Ni)-based catalysts have been intensively studied for the catalytic tar removal. However, the deactivation of Ni-based catalysts takes place because of coke deposition and sintering of Ni metal particles. To overcome these problems, we have been using ruthenium (Ru)-based catalyst for tar removal. It is reported by Okada et al., that a Ru/$Al_2O_3$ catalyst is very effective for preventing the carbon deposition during the steam reforming of hydrocarbons. Also, this catalyst is more active than the Ni-based catalyst at a low steam to carbon ratio (S/C). Benzene was used for the tar model compound because it is the main constituent of biomass tar and also because it represents a stable aromatic structure apparent in tar formed in biomass gasification processes. The steam reforming process transforms hydrocarbons into gaseous mixtures constituted of carbon dioxide ($CO_2$), carbon monoxide (CO), methane ($CH_4$) and hydrogen ($H_2$).

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.375-381
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• 2010

In this paper, the heat-transfer characteristics of steam reforming in an annular reactor are presented. Heat is supplied by the catalytic combustion of syn-gas. The thermal behaviors of exothermic and endothermic reactions in a directly coupled concentric-tube packed-bed reactor were investigated experimentally. The gas mixture supplied for catalytic combustion consisted of the off-gas emitted from MCFC anode. Methane in steam at a suitable S/C (steam-to-carbon) ratio was used in the reforming reactions. On the basis of the experimental results, a simple simulation was performed to predict the temperature profile required in the reforming side of the reactor to achieve optimum hydrogen yield. The results of this study may be utilized as reference data in future studies for further development of coupled reactors.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.135-144
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• 2021

In this study, we investigated the characteristics of the process of hydrogen production using boil-of gas (BOG) generated from an LNG-fueled ship and the application of hydrogen fuel cell systems as auxiliary engines. In this study, the BOG steam reformer process was designed using the UniSim R410 program, and the reformer outlet temperature, pressure, and the fraction and consumption of the product according to the steam/carbon ratio (SCR) were calculated. According to the study, the conversion rate of methane was 100 % when the temperature of the reformer was 890 ℃, and maximum hydrogen production was observed. In addition, the lower the pressure, the higher is the reaction activity. However, higher temperatures have led to a decrease in hydrogen production owing to the preponderance of adverse reactions and increased amounts of water and carbon dioxide. As SCR increased, hydrogen production increased, but the required energy consumption also increased proportionally. Although the hydrogen fraction was the highest when the SCR was 1.8, it was confirmed that the optimal operation range was for SCR to operate at 3 to prevent cocking. In addition, the lower the pressure, the higher is the amount of carbon dioxide generated. Furthermore, 42.5 % of the LNG cold energy based on carbon dioxide generation was required for cooling and liquefaction.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.636-644
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• 2008

The objective of this paper is to investigate characteristics of an autothermal reformer at various operating conditions. Numerical method has been used, and simulation model has been developed for the analysis. Pseudo-homogeneous model is incorporated because the reactor is filled with catalysts of a packed-bed type. Dominant chemical reactions are Full Combustion reaction, Steam Reforming(SR) reaction, Water-Gas Shift(WGS) reaction, and Direct Steam Reforming(DSR) reaction. Simulation results are compared with experimental results for code validation. Operating parameters of the autothermal reformer are inlet temperature, Oxygen to Carbon Ratio(OCR), Steam to Carbon Ratio(SCR), and Gas Hourly Space Velocity(GHSV). Temperature at the reactor center, fuel conversion, species at the reformer outlet, and reforming efficiency are shown as simulation results. SR reaction rate is improved by increased inlet temperature. Reforming efficiency and fuel conversion reached the maximum at 0.7 of OCR. SR reaction and WGS reaction are activated as SCR increases. When GHSV is increased, reforming efficiency increases but pressure drop from the increased GHSV may decrease the system efficiency.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Tobacco Science
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.8-13
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• 2008

Several activated carbon in different specific surface area was prepared by steam and chemical activation of coconut shell. Products were characterized by BET ($N_2$) at 77K, and probed to be highly specific surface area of $1580m^2/g$ and pore volume that had increased with activating conditions. And also we have analyzed the adsorption efficiency of vapor phase components in cigarette mainstream smoke in order to evaluate the relationship between thesmoke components and the physicochemical properties of activated carbons. As a result of this study, the delivery of mainstream smoke was directly affected by the specific surface area and the pore size of activated carbon. The activated carbon prepared by steam activation exhibited better adsorption efficiency on the vapor phase components in mainstream smoke compared with activated carbon prepared by $ZnCl_2$, due to the higher micro-pore area of 66%. But the adsorption efficiency of semi-volatile matters such as phenolic components in a main stream smoke by the activated mesoporous carbon prepared by $ZnCl_2$ is more effective. From the these results, we can conclude that specific surface area by the micropore area increased the adsorption efficiency of activated carbon on vapour phase components, but semi-volatiles or particulate matter was affected by the ratio of mesopore area in total specific surface area.