Reactor methanol reformer/burner

Table 5.5 Specifications of the conventional shell and tube methanol reformer/burner reactors of 100 Wei and 5 kWei power equivalent as assumed by Delsman etal. fortheircalculations[386].

For reformate flow rates up to 400 Ndm3 min-1, the CO output was determined as < 12 ppm for simulated methanol. The reactors were operated at full load (20 kW equivalent power output) for -100 h without deactivation. In connection with the 20 kW methanol reformer, the CO output of the two final reactors was < 10 ppm for more than 2 h at a feed concentration of 1.6% carbon monoxide. Because the reformer was realized as a combination of steam reformer and catalytic burner in the plate and fin design as well, this may be regarded as an impressive demonstration of the capabilities of the integrated heat exchanger design for fuel processors in the kilowatt range. 

Start-up was effected by feeding methanol directly to the burner. The integrated reformer/burner reactor and the integrated PrOx reactor/cooler fabricated at IMM are shown in Figure 2.74. Characterization of the single devices and their assembly is still pending. 

Delsman et al. investigated the advantages of a microstructured methanol reformer coupled with a catalytic burner for anode off-gas over a conventional fixed-bed system [36]. Two ranges of electrical power output of the corresponding fuel processor-fuel cell system were considered, namely 100 W and 5kW. The calculations revealed a more than 50% lower reactor size and more than 30% less catalyst mass required for the microreactor in case of the 100 W system. For the 5 kW system, the reactor volume was only 30% lower, but the catalyst savings were up to 50%. 

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