Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
9759277 | International Journal of Hydrogen Energy | 2005 | 14 Pages |
Abstract
A fuel processor, which incorporates a catalytic autothermal reformer (ATR), a sulfur trap, and a water-gas-shift (WGS) bed engineered to thermally integrate the ATR and WGS processes for improved thermal efficiency, was developed and tested with natural gas as a hydrogen generator for fuel cell applications. In this study, the fuel processor was successfully run over 2300Â h of continuous operation at 3.1-16.0Â kWth input energy capacities. Test results obtained from characterizing the ATR performance show that the reformer achieved over 40% H2 (dry basis) in the ATR reformate and 96-99.9% methane conversion over the entire test duration. The methane reforming efficiency reached over 90% at 16.0Â kWth input energy level (or equivalent to 29Â L/min fuel processing rate), but decreased with decreasing fuel processing rate. The oxygen-to-fuel molar ratio and the fuel processing rate were found to be the key operating parameters in determining the ATR bed temperature, the methane conversion, and the methane reforming efficiency.
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Authors
Sheldon H.D. Lee, Daniel V. Applegate, Shabbir Ahmed, Steven G. Calderone, Todd L. Harvey,