Heat Sink and Conversion of Catalytic Steam Reforming for Hydrocarbon Fuel

Abstract

The endothermic potential of hydrocarbon-fuel catalytic reforming was developed and demonstrated for hightemperature wall cooling. A high-pressure flat plate reactor was used to determine the overall heat sinks and reforming products for hydrocarbon fuel. Tests were conducted in a catalyst-coated channel that simulates a single passageinapracticalcatalyticheatexchanger/reactorunderregenerative flowconditions.Electricheatingwasused as the heat source. The wall temperature ranged from 400 to 740C. The catalytic and noncatalytic endothermic processes were compared under both subcritical and supercritical pressure conditions. The results show that the overall heat sinks are improved by using catalytic reforming reactions on the walls of the reactor. Hydrogen volume concentrations up to 85–90% are obtained when the catalytic reforming reaction takes place at a temperature of approximately 400C. The catalytic reforming and thermal cracking reactions occur simultaneously from a temperature of 500C, and the hydrogen volume concentration drops to 30%. An increase in pressure results in a decrease in the heat sink and an intensification of the thermal cracking reaction, but it also reduces the extent of catalytic reforming reactions.