Session: 12-04: Hydrogen Energy, Alternative Fuels, Bioenergy, and Biofuels

Paper Number: 131382

131382 - Resistive Heating Catalytic Micro-Reactor Design for Process Intensified Fuel Reforming to Hydrogen 

Abstract: 

With developing H₂-based fuel cell technologies to address carbon emissions, achieving fuel flexibility for these pathways is essential for fidelity and deployment into various energy sectors. Due to the low volumetric energy density of H₂, utilizing wide variety of precursors to produce H₂ in-situ can alleviate the transportation/distribution issues while also allowing for utilization of existing infrastructure. Emerging fuel cells utilize fuel reforming, and syngas clean up step prior to the fuel cell to achieve low CO quantities in the syngas needed by the fuel cell materials. But fuel reforming processes are limited by large footprint, high energy consumption, losses, coke deposition, and slow start-up times. To address this, we investigated a novel pathway of utilizing the emerging micro-reforming designs in conjunction with resistive heating to achieve process intensification, very quick start-up times, lowered coke deposition and sintering resistance. Research in this direction can address the supply issues of hydrogen fuel technologies while also help in improving the carbon emissions from the rising hybrid vehicles.

In this pursuit, we developed a novel resistance/Joule heating catalytic micro-reactor where the microchannels are coated with layers of electrical resistance heating material followed by a deposited layer of the catalyst. Here, the resistance material will be resistive heated via electrical power supply to reach the desired reforming temperatures (~600-900 ^oC) to heat the catalyst material directly and instantaneously. Joule heating provides complete conversion of the supplied energy into thermal energy while the direct heating of catalyst material significantly lowers energy losses, improves process control, and decreases the footprint to allow for potentially compact reforming reactors. In comparison to conventional reactors where the reactor is heated from outside, Joule heating can provide improved heat transfer coefficient for the catalyst bed, lower the pressure drop and diffusion limitations. In this paper, we investigate various reforming conditions along with heating patterns by testing on dry reforming of methane and propane as the test reaction for these designs. We will compare the rates, yields, conversion, efficiency, and process performance with baselines of conventional steam reforming reactors to further the reactor design. We will also use multi-physics computational studies along with these experimental data to improve the reactor design for lower pressure drop, compactness, and temperature uniformity. These results will provide a significant milestone in developing compact reactors that can utilize various gas and liquid fuels for in-situ hydrogen production for the rapidly increasing hybrid and fuel cell technologies using hydrogen as the fuel.

Presenting Author: Ashwani Gupta University of Maryland

Presenting Author Biography: Professor, University of Maryland

Authors:

Kiran Raj Goud Burra University of Maryland
Murat Sahin University of Maryland
Ashwani Gupta University of Maryland