Miniaturization of a Hydrogen Plant

Book · Thu Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 2005

OSTI ID:984258

Holladay, Jamie D; Jones, Evan O; Dagle, Robert A; Xia, Gordon; Cao, Chunshe; Wang, Yong

The development of a miniaturized hydrogen plant is discussed. The micro-scale system is capable of producing 1-5 sccm hydrogen that could be used as a fuel supply in a small fuel cell to produce <1 W power. The paper describes the developmental approach, significant unit operations, material selection, and reactor design. The final microscale fuel processing system is composed of a catalytic combustor, catalytic methanol reformer, selective methanation reactor, and the necessary vaporizers and heat exchangers. The fuel processing system is less than 0.3 cm3 and less than 1 gram mass. Thermal efficiencies as high as 33% for hydrogen production were achieved. When a methanation reactor was incorporated into the system, a carbon monoxide level of less than 100 ppm was reached, but at a reduced system efficiency. Further development work includes increasing efficiency through improved system integration.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (US), Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 984258
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-42455; 17504
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

08 HYDROGEN
10 SYNTHETIC FUELS
30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION
CARBON MONOXIDE
CATALYTIC COMBUSTORS
DESIGN
EFFICIENCY
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory
FUEL CELLS
HEAT EXCHANGERS
HYDROGEN
HYDROGEN PRODUCTION
METHANATION
METHANOL
MINIATURIZATION
PROCESSING
hydrogen production
methanol reforming
microchannel reactors