2009 Volume 3 Issue 2 Pages 321-332
A bioethanol reforming system (FBSR) with a sunlight heat source is developed as a potential fuel supply system for distributed fuel cells. The temperature distribution of a catalyst layer in the reactor is not stable under conditions of unstable solar radiation and unstable outside air temperature; therefore, it is thought that the inversion rate of a reforming reaction will decrease. In this paper, heat transmission analysis was used in the catalyst layer of the reforming component of an FBSR, and temperature distribution, inversion rate, and process gas composition were investigated. Based on the results, the relationship between weather conditions and a hydrogen-generating rate was determined. When solar insolation was unstable, it turned out that the efficiency of the reforming component is reduced. Fluctuations of the solar insolation over a short period of time affect the hydrogen generating rate of an FBSR. Moreover, the amount of hydrogen production of an FBSR was simulated using meteorological data from a day in March and a day in August in a cold region (Sapporo). The analysis showed that efficiency of the reforming component exceeded 40% for both of the days.
