Renewable hydrogen from ethanol by a miniaturized nonthermal arc plasma-catalytic reforming system

• Published in: International journal of hydrogen energy 2014-06, Vol.39 (17), p.9057-9069
• Main Authors: Du, Changming, Huang, Dongwei, Mo, Jianmin, Ma, Danyan, Wang, Qingkun, Mo, Zhixing, Ma, Shizhe
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alternative fuels. Production and utilization; Applied sciences; Conversion; Electrodes; Energy; Ethanol; Ethyl alcohol; Exact sciences and technology; Fuels; Hydrogen; Hydrogen production; Nozzles; Reactors; Reforming
• ISSN: 0360-3199; 1879-3487
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2014.04.041

Ethanol-water mixtures were reformed directly into H sub(2)-rich gas without extra heat source with conversion rates of 69.8% and 88.0% by nonthermal arc plasma and plasma-catalytic reactors, respectively. The plasma reactor consists of a Laval nozzle electrode and a central electrode. The ethanol, water and air mixtures were mixed by a spray nozzle, and then introduced into the Laval nozzle. In terms of energy efficiency, the optimal reforming condition was determined to be O/C similar to 0.5 and S/C similar to 1.0 with an ethanol input rate of similar to 0.10 g s super(-1). Furthermore, it is also found that applying Ni/ gamma -Al sub(2)O sub(3) catalyst just at the downstream of the discharge region contributed to a better conversion extent and a higher hydrogen production rate, while the power consumption increased slightly, thus the specific energy required for hydrogen production reduced from 68.5 to 40.1 kJ mol super(-1) at O/C = 0.44, S/C = 1.28 and inlet ethanol = 0.10 g s super(-1). This reforming technology has promising prospects not only for low-cost hydrogen generation and efficiency improvement for inner combustion engine, but also for many other potential chemical applications, such as nanophase material preparation and solar fuel cell manufacturing.