Hydrogen Production by a Steam Reforming Reactor for Heavy Hydrocarbons

The authors develop a small and simple steam-reforming reactor in a home-use size for n-dodecane as a heavy-hydrocarbons fuel. Under the thermal condition controlled by electric heaters and a gas burner with a thermal diffuser, the authors measure the inside-temperature profile and the hydrogen-molecule ratio (concentration) R_H2, together with the molecule ratios R_CH4, R_CO and R_CO2 of other main gas components such as CH₄, CO and CO₂, respectively. Besides, the authors conduct numerical simulations based on a thermal-equilibrium theory, in addition to experiments. As a result, the authors successfully achieve suitable inside-temperature profiles. And, the effects of the liquid-hourly-space velocity LHSV upon R_H2, R_CH4, R_CO and R_CO2 are shown, experimentally. For LHSV ≤ 1, the experimental results agree well with the thermal equilibrium theory. This is in consistent with high conversion ratio X_C12H26 ≳ 80%. Furthermore, the authors reveal the effects of the temperature T inside the reactor upon the molecule ratios, comparing with the thermal-equilibrium theory.