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Investigations on a new internally-heated tubular packed-bed methanol-steam reformer

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Title Investigations on a new internally-heated tubular packed-bed methanol-steam reformer
 
Creator NEHE, P
REDDY, VM
KUMAR, S
 
Subject FUEL-CELL APPLICATIONS
HYDROGEN-PRODUCTION
TRANSFER ENHANCEMENT
POROUS-MEDIUM
MICROREACTOR
REFORMATION
PERFORMANCE
COMBUSTOR
CATALYST
PROCESSORS
Hydrogen production
Internal heating
Methanol reforming
Packed-bed type reformer
 
Description Small-scale reformers for hydrogen production through steam reforming of methanol can provide an alternative solution to the demand of continuous supply of hydrogen gas for the operation of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs). A packed-bed type reformer is one of the potential designs for such purpose. An externally heated reformer has issues of adverse lower temperature in the core of the reformer and significant heat loss to the environment thus impacting its performance. Experimental and numerical studies on a new concept of internally heated tubular packed-bed methanol steam reformer have been reported in this paper with improved performance in terms of higher methanol conversion and reduced heat losses to surroundings. CuO/ZnO/Al2O3 is used as the catalyst for the methanol steam reforming reaction and a rod-type electric heater at the center of the reactor is used for supplying necessary heat for endothermic steam reforming reaction. The vaporizer and the reformer unit with a constant volume catalyst bed are integrated in the annular section of a tubular reformer unit. The performance of the reformer was investigated at various operating conditions like feed rate of water-methanol mixture, mass of the catalyst and reforming temperature. The experimental and numerical results show that the methanol conversion and CO concentration increase with internal heating for a wide range of operating conditions. The developed reformer unit generates 50-80 W (based on lower heating value) of hydrogen gas for applications in PEMFCs. For optimized design and operating conditions, the reformer unit produced 298 sccm reformed gas containing 70% H-2, 27% CO2 and 3% CO at 200-240 degrees C which can produce a power output of 25-32 W assuming 60% fuel cell efficiency and 80% of hydrogen utilization in a PEMFC. Copyright (C) 2015, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 
Publisher PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
 
Date 2016-01-14T13:58:24Z
2016-01-14T13:58:24Z
2015
 
Type Article
 
Identifier INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY, 40(16)5715-5725
0360-3199
1879-3487
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2015.02.114
http://dspace.library.iitb.ac.in/jspui/handle/100/17670
 
Language en