Enhanced stability of co-reforming diesel and methanol into hydrogen-enriched gases for solid oxide fuel cell application

Abstract

Steam reforming of diesel is performed over Ru/γ-Al2O3 and Ni/γ-Al2O3 catalysts. The catalysts both achieve 100% diesel conversion rate and high hydrogen selectivity at temperatures over 600 °C but Ni/γ-Al2O3 catalyst shows a poor carbon tolerance, carbon deposition has been detected after 10 h of test which is determined as encapsulating carbon. Co-reforming diesel and methanol is conducted by adding methanol into the steam-diesel mixture as a stabilizer and it successfully extends the long-term life from 120 h to 600 h at 750 °C. The reformed diesel gas (RDG) is then fed into a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) to investigate fuel adaptability. The cell has achieved a peak power density of 1.34 W/cm2 at 750 °C under RDG fuel, and the cell voltage has stabilized at 0.82 V for 200 h during the galvanostatic discharge of 0.4 A/cm2. No detectable carbon deposition has occurred on the surface of the Ni-YSZ anode. The results demonstrate that the reformed diesel gas provides a good fuel choice for solid oxide fuel cell application.