Experimental studies on hydrogen generation by methane autothermal reforming over nickel-based catalyst

This paper presents the experimental studies on the hydrogen generation by methane autothermal reforming method. An experimental system was built in-house for this study. The temperature profile along the axis of the reformer was measured and discussed. The peak temperature of the reformer appeared in the part of 1/4 to 2/4 of the reformer length from inlet to outlet. The maximum hydrogen yield, hydrogen mole numbers generated per mole of methane consumed of 2.71, was achieved at molar oxygen-to-carbon ratio of 1.68 and molar steam-to-carbon ratio of 2.5. Under this condition, the energy conversion efficiency of the reforming process reached 81.4% based on the lower heating values.