Development of methanol-steam reforming device using spray flow

Conference · Thu Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1999

OSTI ID:20019105

Hishida, Koichi; Yoshida, Keiichi

A study has been conducted in order to establish the thermal and fluid design criteria for a new steam-reforming device. Using a low level heat source held below 600 K, a flow laden with droplets (water and methanol solution) that directly impinges onto a heated plate is employed. Experiments were performed by controlling spray impingement in order to assess the design of the new system. The variables were position of the nozzle, location of the heaters and size of the heaters. The test section is a duct with a rectangular cross-section in which copper heaters were mounted. Droplets atomized by a spray nozzle instantaneously evaporated on the heater surface without bouncing, since a sintered metal surface with defined surface roughness provides a higher Leidenfrost temperature. Results confirmed that superheated gas was directly generated from the spray with high efficiency, and that the locations of the heated plates and spray nozzle could be optimized. The authors also found that the rod heaters evaporated the droplets passing the heated plate and that by pre-heating the spray liquid near the saturation temperature, the droplets evaporated by themselves and the evaporation efficiency rose. An exergy analysis was conducted, and it is found that the pre-heating was very effective because temperature of the heater was relatively low, and its exergy of heat was small. Furthermore, it showed a higher availability of the present system in comparison to an existing steam-reforming system because temperatures of the heat sources was low in the present system.

• Research Organization: Keio Univ., Kohoku, Yokohama (JP)
• OSTI ID: 20019105
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

08 HYDROGEN
09 BIOMASS FUELS
ATOMIZATION
DESIGN
ENERGY ANALYSIS
EXERGY
HYDROGEN GENERATORS
HYDROGEN PRODUCTION
METHANOL
STEAM REFORMER PROCESSES