• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.113-120
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• 2013

A steam reformer is a chemical reactor to produce high purity hydrogen from fossil fuel. In the steam reformer, since endothermic steam reforming is heated by exothermic combustion of fossil fuel, the heat transfer between two reaction zones dominates conversion of fossil fuel to hydrogen. Steam Reforming is complex chemical reaction, mass and heat transfer due to the exothermic methane/air combustion reaction and the endothermic steam reforming reaction. Typically, a steam reformer employs burner to supply appropriate heat for endothermic steam reforming reaction which reduces system efficiency. In this study, the heat of steam reforming reaction is provided by anode-off gas combustion of stationary fuel cell. This paper presents a optimization of heat transfer effect and average temperature of cross-section using two-dimensional models of a coaxial cylindrical reactor, and analysis three-dimensional models of a coaxial cylindrical steam reformer with chemical reaction. Numerical analysis needs to dominant chemical reaction that are assumed as a Steam Reforming (SR) reaction, a Water-Gas Shift (WGS) reaction, and a Direct Steam Reforming(DSR) reaction. The major parameters of analysis are temperature, fuel conversion and heat flux in the coaxial reactor.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.12-25
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• 2007

Numerical simulation of the natural gas steam reforming process for on-site hydrogen production in a $H_2$ fueling station was conducted on the basis of process material and heat balances. The effects of reforming parameters on the process efficiency of hydrogen production were investigated, and set-point values of each of the parameters to minimize the sizes of unit process equipments and to secure a stable operability of the reforming process were suggested. S/C ratio of the reforming reactants was found to be a crucial parameter in the reforming process mostly governing both the hydrogen production efficiency and the stable operability of the process. The operation of the process was regarded to be stable if the feed water(WR) as a reforming reactant could evaporate completely to dry steam through HRSG. The optimum S/C ratio was 3.0 where the process efficiency of hydrogen production was maximized and the stable operability of the process was secured. The optimum feed rates of natural gas(NGR) and WR as reforming reactants and natural gas(NGB) as a burner fuel were also determined for the hydrogen production rate of $27\;Nm^3/h$.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.419-426
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• 2018

$Ni-La_2O_3-Ce_{0.8}Zr_{0.2}O_2$ catalysts with various $La_2O_3$ loading were investigated for hydrogen production from steam reforming of methane (SRM). The $La_2O_3$ loading influenced the physicochemical properties of $Ni-La_2O_3-Ce_{0.8}Zr_{0.2}O_2$ catalysts such as BET surface area, Ni dispersion, Ni size and reducibility. Among the prepared catalysts, $Ni-70La_2O_3-Ce_{0.8}Zr_{0.2}O_2$ catalyst showed the highest activity and stability at a very high gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) of $932,556h^{-1}$. This is mainly due to high Ni dispersion, small Ni size and high reducibility.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.403-408
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• 2006

The plate reformer consisting of combustion chamber and reforming chamber for 25 kW MCFC stack has been operated and computational fluid dynamics was applied to estimate reactions and thermal fluid behavior in the reformer. The methane air 2-stage reaction was assumed in the combustion chamber, and three step steam reforming reactions were included in the calculation. Flow uniformity, reaction rate and species distribution, and temperature distribution were analyzed. In particular, temperature distribution was compared with the measurements to show good agreement in the combustion chamber, however, inappropriate agreement in the reformer chamber.

• 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 hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.301-308
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• 2004

The methane reforming with $CO_2$ and steam for manufacture of synthesis gas over $Ni/ZrO_2$ catalyst was investigated. Mixed reforming carried out $CO_2$ dry reforming with $O_2$ and steam for development of DME process in pilot plant. To improve a catalyst deactivation by coke formation, the mixed reforming added carbon dioxide and steam as a oxidizer of the methane reforming was suggested. The result of experiments over commercial catalyst in $CO_2$ dry reforming has shown that the catalyst activity decrease rapidly after 20 hours. In case of $NiO-MgO/Al_2O_3$ catalyst, the deactivation of 20 percent after 30 hours was occurred. The activity of Ni/C catalyst still was not decreased dramatically after 100 hours. The effect of $H_2$ reforming with steam over $Ni/CO_2$ catalyst obtained the optimal conversion of methane and carbon dioxide, and could be produced synthesis gas at ratio of $H_2/CO$ under 1.5.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.40-48
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• 2010

The purpose of the research is to develop the high performance solar chemical reactor for producing hydrogen using steam reforming reaction of methane. A specific shape chemical reactor is suggested : spiral type reactor. The reactor is installed on the dish-type solar thermal system of Inha University. The temperatures, $CH_4$ conversion rates, and Hz proportion are measured. At specific condition, $CH_4$ conversion rates of the spiral type reactor are about 91%, and Hz proportion are about 66%. The spiral type reactor gives reasonably good performance without any problems caused by highly concentrated solar radiation.

• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.04a
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• pp.55-60
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• 2009

The purpose of the research is to develop the high performance solar chemical reactor for producing hydrogen using steam reforming reaction of methane. A specific shape chemical reactor is suggested: spiral type reactor. The reactor is installed on the dish-type solar thermal system of Inha University. The temperatures, $CH_4$ conversion rates are measured. At specific condition, $CH_4$ conversion rates of the spiral type reactor are about 92%. The spiral type reactor gives reasonably good performance without any problems caused by highly concentrated solar radiation.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.774-779
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• 2009

The purpose of this research is to develop the high performance of solar chemical reactor for producing hydrogen by methane reforming reaction with steam. Two shape of chemical reactor is suggested: first type is filled with porous material and second type is spiral type. These reactors is installed on the dish-type thermal system of Inha University, Inha Dish-1. Performance analysis of these two reactors is conducted from getting methane conversion.

• 한국연소학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2012.04a
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• pp.29-31
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• 2012

The effects of combustion parameters on the characteristics of a steam-methane reformer. The reformer system was numerically simulated using a simplified two-dimensional axisymmetric model domain with an appropriate user-defined function. The fuel ratio, defined as the ratio of methane flow rate in the combustor to that in the reactor, was varied from 20 to 80%. The equivalence ratio was changed from 0.5 to 1.0. The results indicated that as the fuel ratio increased, the production rates of hydrogen and carbon monoxide increased, although their rates of increase diminished. In fact, at the highest heat supply rates, hydrogen production was actually slightly decreased. Simulations showed that equivalence ratio of 0.7 yielded the highest steam-methane mixture temperature despite a 43% higher air flow rate than the stoichiometric flow rate. This means that the production of hydrogen and carbon monoxide can be increased by adjusting the equivalence ratio, especially when the heat supply is insufficient.