A Low-temperature Pom Micro Methanol Reformer with High Fuel Conversion Rate and Hydrogen Production Yield

HIGH FUEL CONVERSION RATE AND HYDROGEN PRODUCTION YIELD Hsueh-Sheng Wang, Yu-Chuan Su*, Yuh-Jeen Huang and Fan-Gang Tseng * Department of Engineering and System Science, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Environmental Sciences, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan, ROC ABSTRACT In this article, a low-temperature partial-oxidation-mode (POM) micro methanol reformer with the performance of high durability and hydrogen productivity is introduced. Our previous researches [1, 2] have demonstrated a POM type micro reformer with an operation temperature at 220C and fuel conversion rate and hydrogen selection rate higher than 90%. In this study, a much improved micro methanol reformer, combining nano-catalyst dispensing technique with serpentine micro flow structures, can further reduce the operation temperature down to 180 C but still carry out a comparable performance. Experimental results showed that the hydrogen yield can be obviously increased 2.6 times with increased concentration of methanol from 1.3*10 to 3.4*10 (mole/min) with conversion rate near 98% at 180°C. The ratio of hydrogen yield to feed rate also approaches as high as 0.051 in this study at 180°C, superior to most of the reports in the literature [3].