Methane reformer/combustor

Figure 2.80 Combined methane reformer/combustor designed for 500 W electrical power output [126].

During reforming, over 90 percent of the THC emissions were methane. The composition of the hydrocarbons was analyzed and the presence of toxic contaminants determined. Figure 3 shows the hydrocarbon fractions from fuel processor tests in terms of methane and NMHCs. Samples from these tests were also analyzed to determine the speciated hydrocarbon emissions profile over various operating loads. Figure 4 shows the results of the speciation analysis, in terms of the fraction of olefins and saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons that comprise the NMHCs. Aromatics and saturated hydrocarbons comprise almost all of the NMHC emissions. The fraction of NMHC as aromatics was close to the fraction of aromatics in the test gasoline for several samples taken from the PrOx and the tail gas combustor (TGC). The TGC burned reformer product gas. 

K. Schubert, Micro-structured Methane Steam Reformer with Integrated Catalytic Combustor, Fuel Cells 2007, 2,... 

SOFC systems can be designed to include a heat recovery component such as an adsorption chiller heater for CHP applications [72-76]. An example is a small (1-lOkW) methane-fueled residential CHP SOFC system that integrates CGR, AGR, and internal reforming [73]. The system consists of a fuel-cell stack, steam prereformer, various fluid delivery devices (blowers, ejectors, compressor, and water pump), heat exchangers, and catalytic combustor and power conditioning device along with a heat recovery component. Based on certain system parameters (50active area, nominal cell temperature of 800 °G, current density of 0.57 A cm , power density of0.40-0.43 Wcm , S/G ratio of 2.0, SOFC... 

In what is called a reheat enhanced gas turbine , the California Energy Commission proposed a decade ago (Anon, 1997c) to reform or partially oxidise a mixture of steam and a combustible hydrocarbon (e.g. methane) to produce a hydrogen-rich fuel used for the primary combustor and a reheat combustor upstream of the turbine final stage. Auto-ignition of hydrogen-rich gas into the gas flow path between the stages is carried out. 

Cremers, C., Pelz, A., Stimming, U., Haas-Santo, K., Gdrke, O., Pfeifer, P. and Schubert, K. (2007) Micro-stmctured methane steam reformer with integrated catalytic combustor. Fuel Cells, 2, 91-98. 

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