Effects of geometry and operating conditions on hydrogen productivity of a fuel cell reformer

Jae Seong Lee, Juhyeong Seo, Ho Young Kim, Jaewon Chung, Sam S. Yoon

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    8 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    A 250-kW fuel cell reformer was numerically simulated with a user-defined function that was designed to simultaneously model reforming and combustion reactions. The calculation domain was a simplified 3-D configuration. To investigate the effects of geometry and operating conditions on the hydrogen productivity, the combustor outlet position, fuel ratio, equivalence ratio, and steam to carbon ratio were variable parameters. The numerical results show that the flow distributions in the furnace vary with respect to the combustor outlet position. The varied flow results in temperature distributions, which predicts the nonuniform hydrogen productivity in each reactor. Measuring the temperatures at reactor centers is an effective method for predicting the hydrogen productivity because the overall reforming reaction is affected by the average reactor temperature, which can be estimated by the temperature at the reactor center. The overall results for varying the operating conditions were summarized as a table by some nondimensional variables. By referring to the table, the proper operating conditions in similar reformer systems can be determined faster and more simply than by performing a conventional experiment.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)318-329
    Number of pages12
    JournalInternational Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer
    Volume73
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2014 Jun

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    This research was supported by a Korea University Grant and the New and Renewable Energy Technologies Development Project of Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning. The experiment was conducted by Samsung Engineering Co., Ltd.

    Keywords

    • Fuel cell
    • Geometric parameter
    • Operating condition
    • Reformer

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Condensed Matter Physics
    • Mechanical Engineering
    • Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes

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