Open AccessPerformance enhancement by optimizing the reformer for an internal reforming methanol fuel cell
Author(s) -
Ji Feng,
Yang Linlin,
Li Yinhua,
Sun Hai,
Sun Gongquan
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
energy science and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.638
H-Index - 29
ISSN - 2050-0505
DOI - 10.1002/ese3.461
Subject(s) - pressure drop , steam reforming , methanol , hydrogen , materials science , chemical engineering , power density , packed bed , drop (telecommunication) , hydrogen production , catalysis , heat transfer , nuclear engineering , process engineering , environmental science , chemistry , mechanics , power (physics) , thermodynamics , mechanical engineering , engineering , organic chemistry , physics
Abstract Internal reforming methanol fuel cell (IRMFC) has potential applications in portable or stationary power supply system, but currently performance of the IRMFC is limited by the low hydrogen production of its reformer. In order to produce more hydrogen with less volume, in this paper a single channel serpentine packed bed reformer was designed, and its bed size was optimized by experiment and numerical simulation to enhance heat transfer and increase catalyst utilization. It was found that with the bed diameter from 5.8 mm down to 3.8 mm, the reformer temperature distribution was more uniform but the bed pressure drop increased a lot. Considering performance and pressure drop, the reformer of 5 mm was optimal, per milliliters of which could supply 9.8 mL/min hydrogen at 453 K, almost twice as much as that by A. Mendes et al with one‐third of their catalyst loading. The reformer was quite stable, and less than 10% decline in methanol conversion was observed during the 100 hours period at 473 K. When incorporated into an IRMFC single cell, power density of the single cell reached 0.45‐0.55 W/cm 2 at 453‐473 K under CH 3 OH solution and air feed, the highest in existing reports. The main drawback has to do with low stability of the IRMFC single cell at high current density.