Characteristics of GTL (gas to liquid) kerosene laminar diffusion flame were investigated experimentally. To clarify the flame characteristics of the GTL kerosene, conventional kerosene, aromatics addition GTL kerosene, naphthene addition GTL kerosene and n-paraffin kerosene were also used. Each fuel was burnt using a wick combustion burner. Flame length, fuel consumption rate and flame temperature of each flame were measured. In the case of GTL kerosene, soot release to surroundings was not observed. Thus, flame length of the GTL kerosene flame was shorter than other flames. Compared to conventional kerosene, the GTL kerosene indicated smaller fuel consumption rate and higher flame temperature. Obtained results suggested that the flame characteristics were greatly influenced by soot formation characteristics within the flame. To investigate the concentration distributions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) regarded as the soot precursor and soot particles, laser-induced fluorescence from PAH and Mie scattering from soot particles were measured. Distribution of PAH fluorescence was significantly differed from GTL kerosene and conventional kerosene, and PAH fluorescence and Mie scattering intensities of GTL kerosene were much lower than conventional kerosene.

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A lot of researchers expect hydrogen to become a clean energy carrier in the future, and are advancing the development of the fuel cell that can effectively generate electricity by using hydrogen. When high concentration hydrogen is intermittently exhausted from the fuel cell system, it is necessary to develop the processing system of the residual hydrogen at the same time. Therefore, we have focused on a catalytic fluidized bed reactor with a heat exchanger which can control the bed temperature and have investigated the catalytic combustion reaction of hydrogen with platinum particles in the fluidized bed reactor. As our investigations, the hydrogen conversion was increased with the bed temperature, more than 99.8% above 150°C. Although the hydrogen conversions below 60°C were influenced by initial hydrogen concentration and hydrogen gas flow rate, the hydrogen combustion rate was roughly increased with space velocity of hydrogen gas. Additionally, under the low temperature, the condensation of product steam in the catalytic bed was an important operating parameter. To achieve higher conversion, the bed temperature is expected to be controlled about 150°C. Then, 80% of product heat can be recovered by a water cooling tube.

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