Non-Catalytic Reforming with Applications to Portable Power.

摘要

Fuel cells are a promising technology as an alternative for portable power applications, because they offer higher power densities, do not include moving parts, and thus are free of noise and vibrations. At the current state of development, fuel cell systems cannot effectively use hydrocarbon fuels unless they have been processed, or reformed, into a syngas consisting of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and other species. Conventional reforming technologies utilize catalysts which may have strict requirements on fuel purity and operating conditions. The development of a robust non-catalytic technique has the advantage of using a variety of logistics fuels. In this project, conversion of various fuels was demonstrated in two different non-catalytic reactors. The conversion of butanol and Jet-A were demonstrated in a filtration reactor consisting of a packed bed of spheres. A second reactor, consisting of counterflowing channels, has the advantage of stationary reactions zones and the ability to operate continuously. Conversion of heptane was demonstrated in this reactor and a computational study was conducted to understand the scaling of the reactor for various applications. These results show the promise of non-catalytic technologies for the reforming of a wide range of fuels.