Exhaust-gas reforming using precious metal catalysts

Rh-only and Rh bimetallic catalysts have been screened for exhaust-gas reforming, under conditions that mimic the output of an autoignition gasoline engine. Propane has been used as a model fuel, with simulated exhaust-gas providing the co-reactants (O₂ and H₂O) needed to generate hydrogen. Based on oxygen-conversion as a measure of light-off, Pt–Rh on ceria–zirconia shows the highest activity. In the presence of SO₂, adsorbed sulphur species do not inhibit the oxidation reactions that induce light-off, but suppress the major pathway to hydrogen (steam reforming). By excluding platinum and using silica-enriched alumina as the underlying support, light-off is delayed, but the steam reforming reaction becomes much more insensitive to the presence of sulphur. The Pt–Rh catalyst is most suited to exhaust-gas reforming systems in which the engine runs on a sulphur-free fuel, whereas the Rh-only catalyst is the better choice when the fuel is conventional gasoline.     

Catalytic aspects of the steam reforming of hydrocarbons in internal reforming fuel cells

Steam reforming of hydrocarbons such as natural gas is an attractive method of producing the hydrogen fuel gas required by fuel cells. It may be carried out external to the fuel cell or internally. The two types of fuel cell in which internal reforming is most appropriate are the molten carbonate (MCFC), operating at ca. 650°C and the solid oxide (SOFC) which currently operates above 800°C. At such temperatures, the heat liberated by the electrochemical reactions within the cell can be utilised by the endothermic steam reforming reaction. This paper reviews some of the catalytic aspects of internal reforming in these two types of cell. In the MCFC the major catalyst issue is that of long term activity in the presence of a corrosive alkaline environment produced by the cell's electrolyte. In Europe, this is being addressed by British Gas and others, in a programme part-funded by the European Commission. In this programme, potential catalysts for the direct internal reforming MCFC were evaluated in ‘out-of-cell’ tests. This has led to the demonstration of a 1 kW proof-of-concept DIR-MCFC stack and the start of a European ‘Advanced DIR-MCFC’ project. For the SOFC, it has been shown that state-of-the-art nickel cermet anodes can provide sufficient activity for steam reforming without the need for additional catalyst. However, anode degradation may occur when steam reforming is carried out for long periods. New anode materials could therefore offer significant benefits.     

液体碳氢燃料蒸汽重整制氢催化剂研究进展

液体碳氢燃料具有能量密度高、氢含量大及便于储存和运输的特点,以其为原料经重整制氢并应用到移动式的燃料电池/加氢站对民用设备及国防武器等具有现实意义。本文首先对液体碳氢燃料蒸汽重整机理进行概述,明确当前催化剂面临的积炭、硫中毒等主要问题,从而指导高性能催化剂的设计和开发;其次,总结了几种典型液体碳氢燃料（汽油、煤油、柴油、焦油、含硫碳氢燃料等）蒸汽重整催化剂的相关进展,对比了不同催化剂在相应工艺条件下的活性及稳定性;最后,归纳了几类蒸汽重整过程强化技术包括等离子体重整、化学链重整、吸附增强重整及反应与分离耦合重整,说明了各类强化技术的优点及存在的不足,提出通过构建高效催化剂与蒸汽重整强化技术耦合有望实现液体碳氢燃料的高效转化制氢。希望本综述能为进一步研究液体碳氢燃料重整制氢提供相关指导。     

非热等离子体烃类燃料氧化重整反应器的研究进展

燃料氧化重整(部分氧化)为温和的放热反应,其反应速率快、能耗低,特别适用于在线制取氢气或富氢气体。大气压非热等离子体为燃料氧化重整提供了一种应用前景广泛的新技术,展现了对燃料具有普适性、快速响应和反应器紧凑高效等优点。综述了大气压非热等离子体烃类燃料氧化重整反应器的研究进展,着重阐述了火花和滑动弧放电产生的暖等离子体及其烃类燃料重整反应器。与电晕和介质阻挡放电产生的冷等离子体反应器相比,暖等离子体反应器具有燃料转化率高和能耗低的优点。     

Fuel composition effects on transportation fuel cell reforming

This work examines the effect of various hydrocarbons on fuel processor light-off and reforming. Major hydrocarbon fuel constituents, such as aliphatic compounds, napthanes, and aromatics have been compared with the fuel processing performance of blended fuel components and reformulated gasoline to examine synergistic or detrimental effects the fuel components have in a real fuel blend.

Short chained aliphatic hydrocarbons tend to have favorable light-off and reforming characteristics for catalytic autothermal reforming compared with longer-chained and aromatic components. Oxygenated hydrocarbons have lower light-off requirements than do pure hydrocarbons. Gas phase oxidation favors higher cetane # fuels, which tend to be longer chained hydrocarbons. Energy consumption during the start-up process shows a large fuel effect. Methanol and dimethylether (DME) show lower start-up energy demands for the fuel processor start-up than do high temperature reforming hydrocarbon fuels such as methane, gasoline and ethanol. Aromatics and longer chained hydrocarbons show a higher tendency for carbon formation, increasing the amount of carbon formed during the light-off phase while the addition of oxygenates tends to lower the carbon formed during the start-up process.     

重整甲醇高温聚合物电解质膜燃料电池研究进展与展望

甲醇作为一种安全便捷的液态储氢燃料,具有高含氢量以及高体积能量密度,可经重整为富氢气后与燃料电池系统集成为重整甲醇高温聚合物电解质膜燃料电池,从而高效地将甲醇和氧气的化学能转变为电能。本文针对重整甲醇高温聚合物电解质膜燃料电池的不同类型（外置重整型和内置重整型）,分别对其系统集成的实现与发展进行了总结,并介绍了其现阶段在军用和民用方面的应用情况,同时指出了技术研究与应用存在的瓶颈,并对未来的研究方向进行了展望。未来提升重整甲醇高温聚合物电解质膜燃料电池性能的努力在于开发低温工作的高效甲醇重整催化剂,以及高温稳定运行的聚合物电解质膜和非贵金属材料等燃料电池关键材料。     

Modelling of an indirect internal reforming solid oxide fuel cell

Creation of an autothermal system by coupling an endothermic to an exothermic reaction demands the matching of the thermal requirements of the two reactions. The application under study is a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) with indirect internal reforming (IIR) of methane, whereby the endothermic steam reforming reaction is thermally coupled to the exothermic oxidation reactions. A steady-state model of an IIR-SOFC has been developed to study the mismatch between the thermal load associated with the rate of steam reforming at typical SOFC temperatures and the local amount of heat available from the fuel cell reactions. Results have shown a local cooling effect, undesirable for ceramic fuel cells, close to the reformer entrance. The system behaviour towards changes in catalyst activity, fuel inlet temperature, current density, and operating pressure has been studied. Increasing the operating pressure is shown to be an effective way of reducing both the local cooling caused by the reforming reactions and the overall temperature increase across the cell. Simulations for both counter-flow and co-flow configurations have been performed and compared.     

Micro-channel reactor for steam reforming of methanol

Micro-channel reactor for steam reforming of methanol seems to be attractive for portable application as one part of fuel processor in fuel cell. In the present study, steam reforming of methanol was performed in one stainless steel micro-channel reactor coated with commercial catalyst. The different sols (alumina, zirconia and mixed sol of alumina and zirconia) as a binder for the catalyst were applied to compare the stability and performance. Among the different sols, mixed sol of alumina and zirconia comparatively produced better stability and performance.     

SOFC内部重整反应与电化学反应耦合机理

以经过预重整反应的混合气为原料的固体氧化物燃料电池（SOFC）内部,甲烷蒸气重整反应与电化学反应同时发生在阳极多孔介质中,二者受到不同的操作与设计参数的影响,对电池总体性能起着决定性作用。编制了三维数值模拟程序,对由多孔阳极层、气体流动管道、固体支撑平板构成的单个复合管道进行了研究。结果显示：重整反应主要发生在多孔材料靠近流动管道的薄层内,只有靠近管道入口处才能在较深处进行;电化学反应发生在多孔层与电解质的交界面处;重整反应生成的H2、CO扩散到多孔材料底部参加电化学反应;电化学反应生成的热量供重整反应使用。说明研究范围内,SOFC阳极复合通道具有较好的传热、传质性能,化学/电化学反应存在较好的耦合关系。     

Numerical study of on-board fuel reforming in a catalytic plate reactor for solid-oxide fuel cells

A pseudo-transient numerical model is used for the simulation of a multi-functional catalytic plate reactor (CPR). The work mainly addresses the problems associated with on-board reforming for solid-oxide fuel cells. Heat management is achieved by indirectly coupling partial oxidation with reforming. Water management is achieved by partially recycling the anode stream from a solid-oxide fuel cell. The model uses detailed heterogeneous chemistry for reforming and oxidation reactions occurring on the catalyst beds.     

天然气内重整和外重整下SOFC多场耦合三维模拟分析

内重整（IR）和外重整（ER）是固体氧化物燃料电池（SOFC）以天然气（NG）为燃料时的两种工作方式,不同重整方式下的电池性能、效率也不尽相同。借助有限元分析软件COMSOL Multiphysics^? 5.2,以天然气为燃料,建立了电池组成为Ni-YSZ//YSZ//LSCF-GDC的ER-SOFC和IR-SOFC两种三维单电池模型。模拟结果表明：相同条件下,IR-SOFC具有比ER-SOFC更高的功率密度、燃料利用率和能量利用率;阳极重整反应主要发生在靠近燃料入口的区域内;H₂和CO含量在IR-SOFC中先升高后降低,在ER-SOFC中则一直降低;IR-SOFC的温度变化更剧烈,燃料入口处温度梯度最大;越靠近集流体的区域,电解质表面的离子电流密度越大;ER-SOFC阳极不会发生热力学上的积炭现象,对于IR-SOFC,CH₄热分解反应是整个阳极发生积炭的主要原因,其在燃料入口处的积炭活性高达270。     

Investigation of a proton-conducting SOFC with internal autothermal reforming of methane

This study presents a performance analysis of a proton-conducting SOFC (SOFC-H⁺) with internal reforming of methane. The autothermal reforming within the SOFC-H⁺ stack is considered to be a potential solution of the carbon formation problem facing in operation of internal steam reforming SOFC-H⁺. A one-dimensional, steady-state model of the SOFC-H⁺ coupled with a detailed electrochemical model is employed to investigate its performance in terms of power density and fuel cell efficiency. The simulation results show that when SOFC-H⁺ is operated under an autothermal reforming environment, the presence of carbon monoxide, which is a major cause of carbon formation, in the fuel cell stack decreases. Effect of key operating parameters, such as temperature, steam-to-carbon and oxygen-to-carbon feed ratios, current density and fuel utilization, on the SOFC-H⁺ performance in terms of electrical efficiencies and energy demand is also investigated. The results indicate that operating temperatures have strong influence on SOFC-H⁺ performance, carbon monoxide production and heat generation.     

合成氨生产中的现代转化工艺

介绍了天然气、蒸汽转化工艺技术的最新进展。开发和应用绝热预转化工艺、预转化炉、转化换热器及组合式自热转化炉等新型转化技术,可改善管式一段转化炉的操作条件,节省燃料消耗,降低整个氨厂的能耗。在转化段引入一种新型的高温、高压预热气体工艺——里格特工艺,节能效果也很显著。     

Process simulation of natural gas steam reforming: Fuel distribution optimisation in the furnace

This paper describes a two-step method to simulate the natural gas steam reforming for hydrogen production. The first step is to calculate reforming tube length and fuel distribution with equilibrium approach associated with heat transfer. The second step is to calculate and validate reforming performance with kinetic model. A short-cut simulation of hydrogen plant has also been performed to calculate inputs for the reformer model, such as total flow rate and composition of mixed fuel burning in the furnace chamber. Heat transfer, especially radiative heat transfer, is the key role in the steam reforming technology, due to the high heat fluxes involved. For this reason, energy modelling of the furnace chamber has been performed. The simulation evaluates the most important design variables, as tubes height, maximum tube-wall temperature, and tube pressure drop. The heat flux profile can be selected to have suitable metal temperatures to lengthen the reformer tube life. The model calculates the design parameters for reforming tube and fuel distribution among burners.     

小型碳基燃料水蒸气重整制氢装置研究

设计并加工了一种小型碳基燃料水蒸气重整制氢装置,该装置为不锈钢材料,采用集成式结构设计,使得加热、气化、重整、分散等多功能部件有机地结合在一起,大大减小了装置的设计尺寸,减小了装置占有空间,降低了装置成本,实现了小型、微型化的目的,便于移动、便携式制氢装置的推广。该反应器装载花状微球Ni/CeO₂催化剂,在重整性能测试中甲烷流量为1250mL/min时,水碳比H₂O/CH₄=2：1,560℃反应温度下,该反应器表现出了良好的重整制氢性能,重整气中氢气的组成达到70%以上,甲烷的含量降至16%以下,用于高温燃料电池发电的功率计算,满足500W功率设计要求,达到550W以上。实验表明这种重整制氢装置可用于高温燃料电池供氢系统。     

重整催化剂的抗硫性能研究进展

基于固体氧化物燃料电池(SOFC)的烃类原位重整供氢技术是重要的分布式和小型化制氢方案。传统镍基重整催化剂在烃类重整过程中,原料中微量的硫化物即可使催化剂中毒失活,严重时还可能造成巨大的安全隐患。本文梳理总结了催化剂硫中毒的机理,简述了天然气、液化石油气、液态烃重整原料中硫化物的组成和含量,重点分析了已报道的用于重整反应的抗硫催化剂并总结了有效可行的催化剂抗硫方案,并从重整制氢催化剂的硫中毒机理指导高效抗硫催化剂的开发。最后,文章指出,重整催化综合性能的提升、重整原料的预处理和重整反应器设计等综合抗硫策略也是重要的研究方向。     

Progress in the sulfur resistance of reforming catalysts

Hydrocarbon in-situ reforming hydrogen supply technology based on solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is an important distributed and miniaturized hydrogen production solution. Traditional nickel-based reforming catalysts often face sulfur poisoning during the reaction with trace amount of sulfur in the feedstock. In some cases, the existing sulfur may even cause severe safety risks. In this paper, the mechanisms of sulfur poisoning are summarized; the compositions and contents of sulfur species in natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas and liquid hydrocarbon are briefly described; the reported sulfur resistant catalysts for different reforming reactions are reviewed, and the effective and feasible solutions for developing sulfur-tolerant catalysts are summarized. The mechanisms of sulfur poisoning could guide the design of sulfur-resistant reforming catalyst with high performance. Finally, the paper reveals that the improvement of catalytic overall performance, the pretreatment of reforming feedstock and the design of reforming reactor and other comprehensive anti-sulfur strategies are also important research directions.     

Ni基重整催化剂失活机理研究进展

H₂是一种清洁、绿色的燃料和能源载体。目前工业上应用较为成熟的生产工艺是重整反应制氢。其中，Ni基重整催化剂由于其高储量、高活性和低成本的优点而受到研究人员的广泛关注，但在反应过程中存在易因烧结、积炭和中毒等原因而失活的问题。因此，如何提高Ni基重整催化剂的反应稳定性是一个急需解决的问题。本文介绍了上述三种引起Ni基重整催化剂失活的主要原因，并从调控金属Ni粒子粒径、增强金属-载体相互作用、形成晶格氧或表面氧物种以及Ni粒子纳米结构调控四个方面阐述了近年来在抑制失活并提高Ni基重整催化剂反应性能和稳定性领域所取得的研究进展，并且提出优化反应条件、调变化学组成和调控Ni粒子纳米结构将是提高Ni基催化剂在重整反应过程中的稳定性的有效方法。     

Partial oxidation (POX) reforming of gasoline for fuel-cell powered vehicles applications

As a part of the development of a gasoline processor for integration with a proton-exchanged membrane (PEM) fuel cell, we carried out the POX reforming reaction ofiso-octane, toluene and gasoline over a commercial methane reforming catalyst, and investigated the reaction conditions required to prevent the formation of carbon and the effect of fuel constituents and sulfur impurities in gasoline. The H₂ and CO compositions increased with increasing reaction temperature, while those of CO₂ and CH₄ decreased. It is desirable to maintain an O/C molar ratio of more than 0.6 and an H₂O/C molar ratio of 1.5 to 2.0 for vehicle applications. It has been found that carbon formation in the POX reforming ofiso-octane occurs below 620 °C, whereas in the case of toluene it occurs below 640 °C. POX reforming of gasoline constituents led to the conclusion that hydrogen production is directly related to the constituents of fuels and the operating conditions. It was also found that the coke formation on the surface of catalysts is promoted by sulfur impurities in fuels. For the integration of a fuel processor with PEM fuel cell, studies are needed on the development of new high-performance transition metal-based catalysts with sulfur and coke-resistance and the desulfurization of fuels before applying the POX reformer based on gasoline feed.     

Low temperature exhaust gas fuel reforming of diesel fuel

The application of exhaust gas assisted fuel reforming in diesel engines has been investigated. The process involves hydrogen generation by direct catalytic interaction of diesel fuel with engine exhaust gas. Using a laboratory reforming mini reactor incorporated in the exhaust system of a diesel engine, up to 16% hydrogen in the reactor product gas was achieved at a reactor inlet temperature of 290 °C. The results showed that such levels of hydrogen can be produced with appropriate control of the reaction parameters at temperatures typical of exhaust gas temperatures of diesel engines operating at part load without any requirement for external heat source or air and steam supply. The use of simulated reformed fuel was shown to be beneficial in terms of engine exhaust emissions and resulted in reduction of NO_X and smoke emissions.