Characterization of the performance of adiabatic reformers operated with logistic fuels. Final technical report

Technical Report · Thu Jul 30 04:00:00 EDT 1981

OSTI ID:5774045

Bett, J A.S.; Lesieur, R R; Meyer, A P; Setzer, H J

United Technologies Corporation, in cooperation with the Electric Power Research Institute, has developed an adiabatic steam reformer capable of processing sulfur-containing fuels for commercial fuel cell power plants. No. 2 fuel oil and various coal-derived liquids have recently been successfully reformed to hydrogen using advanced catalyst formulations. The objective of this program is to determine the performance of the adiabatic reformer when operated with military logistic fuels. The test data will form the basis for system evaluation of the use of the adiabatic reformer in Army 'SLEEP' power plants using military logistic fuels. A two-inch diameter adiabatic reformer capable of supplying the hydrogen required for a 2.5 kW to 6 kW power plant was loaded with advanced metal oxide and nickel catalysts. It ran over 1400 hours; 840 hours with No. 2 fuel oil as reference fuel, 350 hours on unleaded gasoline, and 216 hours on diesel fuel. The performance of the reformer on No. 2 fuel oil (for calibration against previous tests) closely matched previous tests both with respect to fuel conversion and carbon formation characteristics. After an initial decay period of about 200 hours, the performance remained stable for the remaining 1200 hours of test. The reformer operated at conditions set as design goals for a commercial fuel cell power plant. With unleaded gasoline, the tendency for carbon formation was greatly reduced; even at the lowest values for oxygen to carbon ratio in the process steam no carbon was detected. Operating parameters were defined for each of the fuels. The effect of steam/carbon ratio, pressure and fuel flow rate on fuel conversion was determined.

• Research Organization: United Technologies Corp., South Windsor, CT (USA). Power Systems Div.
• OSTI ID: 5774045
• Report Number(s): AD-A-103622/7
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

08 HYDROGEN
080103 -- Hydrogen-- Production-- Steam Reformer Processes
30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION
300503* -- Fuel Cells-- Materials
Components
& Auxiliaries
ADIABATIC PROCESSES
CARBON
CATALYSTS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COMBUSTION
COMBUSTION PRODUCTS
DIESEL FUELS
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS
ELEMENTS
FLUID FLOW
FUEL CELL POWER PLANTS
FUEL CELLS
FUEL OILS
FUELS
GAS FLOW
GAS GENERATORS
GASOLINE
HYDROGEN FUEL CELLS
HYDROGEN GENERATORS
LIQUID FUELS
NONMETALS
OILS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDATION
PERFORMANCE
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
POWER PLANTS
REFORMER PROCESSES
SCALE MODELS
STEAM
STEAM REFORMER PROCESSES
STRUCTURAL MODELS
SULFUR
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES