An Experimental Study on Autothermic Reforming by Reciprocating Flow Super-Adiabatic Combustion in Porous Media

Abstract

An experimental study on autothermic reforming in a porous catalyst has been performed. In the system, a mixture of methane, steam and air is introduced into the porous catalyst, where the flow direction reverses reqularly. By the reciprocating flow system, the product gas enthalpy is effectively regenerated into an enthalpy increase in the mixture through the porous medium, which provides heat storage. The flammability limit is extended to the equivalence ratio of 4.7. That is, most of the methane supplied is converted into hydrogen, using the combustion heat released by the residual methane. The most striking feature is that the thermal efficiency, which is defined as the ratii of the reforming-reaction heat to the combustion heat, reaches 70%, and the methane conversion is more than 80∼90%.