• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11b
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• pp.1996-2000
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• 2008

In autothermal reforming reaction, oxygen to carbon ratio (OCR) and steam to carbon ratio (SCR) are significant factors, which control temperature and carbon deposition into the reactor. The OCR is more sensitive than the SCR to affect the temperature distribution and reforming efficiency. In conventional operation, hydrocarbon fuel, steam, and oxygen was homogeneously mixed and injected into the reactor in order to get hydrogen-rich gas. The temperature was abruptly raised due to fast oxidation reaction in the former part of the reactor. Deactivation of packed catalysts can be accelerated there. In the present study, therefore, the effect of the oxygen distribution is introduced and investigated to suppress the carbon deposition and to maintain the reactor in the mild operating temperature (e.g., $700{\sim}800^{\circ}C$). In order to investigate the effect numerically, the following models are adopted; heterogeneous reaction model and two-medium model for heat balance.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.30 no.11 s.254
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• pp.1123-1130
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• 2006

This study discusses about research efforts of hydrogen generation from hydrocarbon(e.g., diesel, gasoline, natural gas, and LPG), especially, butane reforming by using Autothermal Reforming Reaction (ATR) technology. Several catalysts were selected for butane ATR. Thermodynamic reactor conditions (temperature, $O_2$/C, S/C) are varied and reforming characteristics of 2 catalysts (Pt and Rh on ceramic supports) and 1 commercial catalyst (FCR-HC35) have been examined. To understand reaction behaviors in an ATR reactor comprehensively, temperature profiles of reactor were observed. By mass transfer limitation, fuel conversion decreases when GHSV increases. Significant temperature variation along the reactor was observed and it was mainly due reaction kinetics difference between exothermic oxidation and endothermic reforming reaction.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.321-328
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• 2011

The autothermal reforming reaction of methane was investigated to produce hyd rogen with Ni/$CeO_2-ZrO_2$, Ni/$Al_2O_3$-MgO and Ni-Ru/$Al_2O_3$-MgO catalysts. Honeycomb metalli c monolith was applied in order to obtain high catalytic activity and stability in autothermal r eforming. The catalysts were characterized by XRD, BET and SEM. The influence of various catalysts on hydrogen production was studied for the feed ratio($O_2/CH_4$, $H_2O/CH_4$). The $O_2/CH_4$ and $H_2O/CH_4$ ratio governed the methane conversion and temperature profile of reactor. Th e reactor temperature increased as the reaction shifted from endothermic to exothermic reactio n with increasing $O_2/CH_4$ ratio. Among the catalysts used in the experiment, the Ni-Ru/$Al_2O_3$-MgO catalyst showed the highest activity. The 60% of $CH_4$ conversion was obtained, and th e reactor temperature was maintained $600^{\circ}C$ at the condition of GHSV=$10000h^{-1}$ and feed ratio S/C/O=0.5/1/0.5.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.33-36
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• 2007

Currently, many structured catalysts using microchannel are researched to apply to fuel reforming. In this paper, ceramic monolith and metal mesh as structured catalysts are investigated for catalytic autothermal reforming. When GHSV increases, each structured catalyst has better performances(hydrogen production, fuel conversion) than packed bed catalyst for autothermal reforming. The major causes seem to be the elevated heat and mass transfer, gas phase reaction and redistribution of packed bed due to high pressure drop.

• 한국전기화학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2004.06a
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• pp.277-280
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• 2004

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.802-807
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• 2012

The autothermal reforming of methane to syngas has been carried out in a reactor charged with both a Ni (15 wt%)-Ru (1 wt%)/$Al_2O_3$-MgO metallic monolith catalyst and an electrically-heated convertor (EHC). The standalone type reactor has a start-up time of less than 2 min with the reactant gas of $700^{\circ}C$ fed to the autothermal reactor. The $O_2/CH_4$ and $H_2O/CH_4$ ratio governed the methane conversion and temperature profile of reactor. The reactor temperature increased as the reaction shifted from endothermic to exothermic reaction with decreasing $H_2O/CH_4$ ratio. Also the amount of $CO_2$ in the products increases with increasing $H_2O/CH_4$ ratio due to water gas shift reaction. The 97% of $CH_4$ conversion was obtained and the reactor temperature was maintained $600^{\circ}C$ at the condition of $GHSV=10,000\;h^{-1}$ and feed ratio ($H_2O/CH_4=0.6$ and $O_2/CH_4=0.5$). In this condition, the maximum flow rate of the syngas generated from the reactor charged with 170 cc of the metallic monolith catalyst is $0.94\;Nm^3/h$.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.474-480
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• 2011

Hydrocarbon is required to be converted to pure hydrogen without carbon monooxide (CO) for polymer exchange membran fuel cell (PEMFC) applications. In this paper, CO cleaning processes as the downstream of Dimethyl ehter (DME) autothermal reforming process were performed in micro-reactors. Our study suggested two kinds of water gas shift (WGS) reaction process: High Temperature shift (HTS) - Low Temperature shift (LTS), Middle temperature shift (MTS). Firstly, using perovskite catalyst for MTS was decreased effieiciency since methanation. Using HTS-LTS the CO concentration was decreased about 2% ($N_2$ & $H_2O$ free) with the reaction temperature of $420^{\circ}C$ and $235^{\circ}C$ for HTS and LTS, respectively. As the final stage of CO cleaning process, preferential oxidation (PROX) was applied. The amount of additional oxygen need 2 times of stoichiometric at $65^{\circ}C$. The total conversion reforming efficiency of 75% was gained.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.5-8
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• 2007

In this paper, numerical investigation has been carried out to study performance of methane autothermal reformer and dynamic behavior for light-off under various operating conditions. In order to simulate the given problems, numerical methods are incorporated using finite-volume method. In addition, porous medium approach is accepted because the catalytic phenomena occur in porous media. Also, start-up issue is significant in autothermal reformer although the reaction is marginally exothermic. Thus, in this study transient behavior has been also investigated to find out optimal operating conditions for start-up.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.267-274
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• 2009

Considerable attention has been given to developing methodologies to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide from industry to meet strengthened environmental regulations. In this article, recent research trends on dry reforming of methane as an alternative method to reduce $CO_2$ emission from large scale industrial processes are addressed. To efficiently provide the energy needed in this strong endothermic reaction without additional $CO_2$ emission, it seems to be desirable to adopt autothermal reaction mode. The produced synthesis gas could be used as a reducing gas, or a feedstock for synthesis of chemicals and fuels.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.30 no.9 s.252
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• pp.850-857
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• 2006

Hydrogen production using current fueling facilities is essential for near-term applications of fuel cells. A preliminary process for developing a natural gas autothermal reforming (ATR) reactor for fuel cells is presented in this paper. A experimental reactor for methane ATR was constructed and used for characterization of Jin reactor. Temperature profiles of the reactor were observed, and reformed gas compositions were analyzed to evaluate efficiency, conversion and reaction heat with varying amounts of $O_2/CH_4$ at selected furnace temperature and $H_2O/CH_4$. The amount of $O_2/CH_4$ showed strong offsets on reactor temperature, efficiency and conversion indicating that $O_2/CH_4$ is a crucial operation condition. Operation conditions which result in thermal neutrality of ATR reactor system were determined for two cases of an ATR system based on the estimation of enthalpy difference between reactants of assumed inlet temperatures and the products from experimental results. The determined conditions for thermally neutral operations could be used for guidelines to design reformers and for determining the operation parameters of a self sustaining ATR reactor.