Study of Onboard Hydrogen-Rich Gas Generation for Gasoline Engine by Gasoline Steam Reforming with Exhaust Gas Energy Recovery

Abstract

This study was to investigate the potential for hydrogen-rich gas generation, the clean fuel, for gasoline engines by onboard gasoline steam reforming with exhaust gas energy recovery. The study was conducted on a motorcycle gasoline engine of 100 cm3 swept volume in a laboratory combined with modeling. The modeling study was to determine the optimal feedstock conditions for high generated hydrogen yield while the experiment was to validate and confirm the solution. The study accounted for all the aspects of major chemical reactions and heat and mass transfer phenomena in the reformer. A computer simulation code has been developed for the study. The results showed that by taking advantage of exhaust energy, the optimal operating conditions of the reformer for high hydrogen yield were under engine full load with inlet fuel flowrate of 110 g/h and mass water to fuel ratio of 3.5:1. Under these conditions, gasoline conversion of up to 80% and H2 yield of 30.8 g/h was achieved.