scholarly journals A System Integration Analysis of a Molten Carbonate Electrolysis Cell as an Off-Gas Recovery System in a Steam-Reforming Process of an Oil Refinery

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Monforti Ferrario ◽  
Francesca Santoni ◽  
Massimiliano Della Pietra ◽  
Mosè Rossi ◽  
Nicola Piacente ◽  
...  

Technologies capable of efficiently exploiting unavoidable CO2 streams, have to be deeply investigated and deployed during the transition phase to achieve long-term climate neutrality targets. Among the technologies, Molten Carbonate Cells (MCC) Operating in Electrolysis Mode (MCEC) represents a promising facility to valorize CO2-rich waste streams, which are typically available in industrial plants, by their conversion into a high-value H2/CO syngas. These gaseous products can be reintegrated in a plant or reused in different applications. This study analyzes the integration of a system of the MCEC unit under different operating conditions in terms of composition, current density, and the utilization of fuels in a steam-reforming process of an Italian oil refinery via a mixed experimental-simulative approach. The aim of the current study is to assess the improvement in the overall product yield and further impacts of the MCEC unit on the plant efficiency. The results have shown that it is possible to obtain an electrochemical Specific Energy Consumption for the production of H2 of 3.24 kWh/NmH23 using the MCEC, whereby the possible integration of a 1-MWe module with a reformer of the proposed plant not only increases the hydrogen yield but also decreases the amount of fuel needed to assist the reforming reaction and separates a CO2 stream after additional purification via an oxy-fuel combustor, consequently determining lower greenhouse gases emissions.

Author(s):  
Kyungpyo Hong ◽  
Stephanie Nadya Sutanto ◽  
Jeong A. Lee ◽  
Jongsup Hong

Ni–Rh and Ni–Co nano-scale alloys exhibit high methane conversion, hydrogen yield, resistance to carbon formation, and long-term stability at low temperatures, allowing them to cope with the various operating conditions of direct methane-fueled PCFCs.


2014 ◽  
Vol 699 ◽  
pp. 504-509
Author(s):  
Hafizah Abdul Halim Yun ◽  
Ramli Mat ◽  
Tuan Amran Tuan Abdullah ◽  
Mahadhir Mohamed ◽  
Anwar Johariand Asmadi Ali

The study focuses on hydrogen production via glycerol steam reforming over copper and nickel loaded on HZSM-5 zeolite based catalyst. The catalysts were prepared by using different loading amount of copper (0-10wt%) and nickel (0-10wt%) on HZSM-5 zeolite catalysts through wet impregnation method and was characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). The performances of catalysts were evaluated in terms of glycerol conversion and hydrogen production at 500°C using 6:1 of water to glycerol molar ratio (WGMR) in a tubular fixed bed reactor. All the catalysts had achieved more than 85% of glycerol conversion except that of 5%Cu loaded on HZSM-5 catalyst. The addition of nickel into 5% Cu/HZSM-5 catalyst had increased the hydrogen yield. Similar trend was observed when copper was added into Ni/HZSM-5 catalyst but using copper loaded on HZSM-5 alone was unable to produce hydrogen compared to using nickel catalyst alone. It showed that copper acted as a promoter for hydrogen production. It was established that a 5wt% of Cu with 10wt% of Ni loaded on HZSM-5 catalyst showed significant improvement in terms of hydrogen yield and gaseous product compositions at selected operating conditions.


Author(s):  
Shinku Lee ◽  
Joongmyeon Bae ◽  
Sungkwang Lim

This paper discusses numerical analysis of heat and mass transfer characteristics in autothermal fuel reformer. Assuming local thermal equilibrium between bulk gas and surface of catalyst, one medium approach for energy equation is incorporated. Also, mass transfer between concentrations of bulk gas and near the surface of catalyst is neglected due to relatively low gas mixture velocity. For surface chemical reaction Langmuir-Hinshelwood reaction is incorporated when methane (CH4) is reformed to hydrogen-rich gases by autothermal reforming (ATR) reaction. Complete combustion, steam reforming, water gas shift and direct methane steam reforming reactions are included in the chemical reaction model. Under two operating conditions (O/C and S/C), ATR reactions are estimated from the numerical calculations. Mass, momentum, and energy equations are simultaneously calculated with chemical reactions. From the predicted results, we can estimate optimum operating conditions for high hydrogen yield.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 2792 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriella Garbarino ◽  
Federico Pugliese ◽  
Tullio Cavattoni ◽  
Guido Busca ◽  
Paola Costamagna

Three Ni-based natural gas steam reforming catalysts, i.e., commercial JM25-4Q and JM57-4Q, and a laboratory-made catalyst (26% Ni on a 5% SiO2–95% Al2O3), are tested in a laboratory reactor, under carbon dioxide methanation and methane steam reforming operating conditions. The laboratory catalyst is more active in both CO2 methanation (equilibrium is reached at 623 K with 100% selectivity) and methane steam reforming (92% hydrogen yield at 890 K) than the two commercial catalysts, likely due to its higher nickel loading. In any case, commercial steam reforming catalysts also show interesting activity in CO2 methanation, reduced by K-doping. The interpretation of the experimental results is supported by a one-dimensional (1D) pseudo-homogeneous packed-bed reactor model, embedding the Xu and Froment local kinetics, with appropriate kinetic parameters for each catalyst. In particular, the H2O adsorption coefficient adopted for the commercial catalysts is about two orders of magnitude higher than for the laboratory-made catalyst, and this is in line with the expectations, considering that the commercial catalysts have Ca and K added, which may promote water adsorption.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 563-572
Author(s):  
Iman Golpour ◽  
Mohammad Kaveh ◽  
Reza Amiri Chayjan ◽  
Raquel P. F. Guiné

AbstractThis research work focused on the evaluation of energy and exergy in the convective drying of potato slices. Experiments were conducted at four air temperatures (40, 50, 60 and 70°C) and three air velocities (0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 m/s) in a convective dryer, with circulating heated air. Freshly harvested potatoes with initial moisture content (MC) of 79.9% wet basis were used in this research. The influence of temperature and air velocity was investigated in terms of energy and exergy (energy utilization [EU], energy utilization ratio [EUR], exergy losses and exergy efficiency). The calculations for energy and exergy were based on the first and second laws of thermodynamics. Results indicated that EU, EUR and exergy losses decreased along drying time, while exergy efficiency increased. The specific energy consumption (SEC) varied from 1.94 × 105 to 3.14 × 105 kJ/kg. The exergy loss varied in the range of 0.006 to 0.036 kJ/s and the maximum exergy efficiency obtained was 85.85% at 70°C and 0.5 m/s, while minimum exergy efficiency was 57.07% at 40°C and 1.5 m/s. Moreover, the values of exergetic improvement potential (IP) rate changed between 0.0016 and 0.0046 kJ/s and the highest value occurred for drying at 70°C and 1.5 m/s, whereas the lowest value was for 70°C and 0.5 m/s. As a result, this knowledge will allow the optimization of convective dryers, when operating for the drying of this food product or others, as well as choosing the most appropriate operating conditions that cause the reduction of energy consumption, irreversibilities and losses in the industrial convective drying processes.


Catalysts ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Conti ◽  
Barbara Bosio ◽  
Stephen John McPhail ◽  
Francesca Santoni ◽  
Davide Pumiglia ◽  
...  

Intermediate Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (IT-SOFC) technology offers interesting opportunities in the panorama of a larger penetration of renewable and distributed power generation, namely high electrical efficiency at manageable scales for both remote and industrial applications. In order to optimize the performance and the operating conditions of such a pre-commercial technology, an effective synergy between experimentation and simulation is fundamental. For this purpose, starting from the SIMFC (SIMulation of Fuel Cells) code set-up and successfully validated for Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells, a new version of the code has been developed for IT-SOFCs. The new release of the code allows the calculation of the maps of the main electrical, chemical, and physical parameters on the cell plane of planar IT-SOFCs fed in co-flow. A semi-empirical kinetic formulation has been set-up, identifying the related parameters thanks to a devoted series of experiments, and integrated in SIMFC. Thanks to a multi-sampling innovative experimental apparatus the simultaneous measurement of temperature and gas composition on the cell plane was possible, so that a preliminary validation of the model on local values was carried out. A good agreement between experimental and simulated data was achieved in terms of cell voltages and local temperatures, but also, for the first time, in terms of local concentration on the cell plane, encouraging further developments. This numerical tool is proposed for a better interpretation of the phenomena occurring in IT-SOFCs and a consequential optimization of their performance.


2010 ◽  
Vol 2010 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul-Majeed Azad ◽  
Desikan Sundararajan

Clean power source utilizing vast logistic fuel reserves (jet fuels, diesel, and coal) would be the main driver in the 21st century for high efficiency. Fuel processors are required to convert these fuels into hydrogen-rich reformate for extended periods in the presence of sulfur, and deliver hydrogen with little or no sulfur to the fuel cell stack. However, the jet and other logistic fuels are invariably sulfur-laden. Sulfur poisons and deactivates the reforming catalyst and therefore, to facilitate continuous uninterrupted operation of logistic fuel processors, robust sulfur-tolerant catalysts ought to be developed. New noble metal-supported ceria-based sulfur-tolerant nanocatalysts were developed and thoroughly characterized. In this paper, the performance of single metal-supported catalysts in the steam-reforming of kerosene, with 260 ppm sulfur is highlighted. It was found that ruthenium-based formulation provided an excellent balance between hydrogen production and stability towards sulfur, while palladium-based catalyst exhibited rapid and steady deactivation due to the highest propensity to sulfur poisoning. The rhodium supported system was found to be most attractive in terms of high hydrogen yield and long-term stability. A mechanistic correlation between the role of the nature of the precious metal and the support for generating clean desulfurized -rich reformate is discussed.


Author(s):  
Laslo Šereš ◽  
Ljubica Dokić ◽  
Bojana Ikonić ◽  
Dragana Šoronja-Simović ◽  
Miljana Djordjević ◽  
...  

Cross-flow microfiltration using ceramic tubular membrane was applied for treatment of steepwater from corn starch industry. Experiments are conducted according to the faced centered central composite design at three different transmembrane pressures (1, 2 and 3 bar) and cross-flow velocities (100, 150 and 200 L/h) with and without the usage of Kenics static mixer. For examination of the influence of the selected operating conditions at which usage of the static mixer is justified, a response surface methodology and desirability function approach were used. Obtained results showed improvement in the average permeate flux by using Kenics static mixer for 211 % to 269 % depending on experimental conditions when compared to the system without the static mixer. As a result of optimization, the best results considering flux improvement as well as reduction of specific energy consumption were obtained at low transmembrane pressure and lower feed cross-flow rates.


Author(s):  
Joonguen Park ◽  
Shinku Lee ◽  
Sunyoung Kim ◽  
Joongmyeon Bae

This paper discusses a numerical analysis of the heat and mass transfer characteristics in an autothermal methane reformer. Assuming local thermal equilibrium between the bulk gas and the surface of the catalyst, a one-medium approach for the porous medium analysis was incorporated. Also, the mass transfer between the bulk gas and the catalyst’s surface was neglected due to the relatively low gas velocity. For the catalytic surface reaction, the Langmuir–Hinshelwood model was incorporated in which methane (CH4) is reformed to hydrogen-rich gases by the autothermal reforming (ATR) reaction. Full combustion, steam reforming, water-gas shift, and direct steam reforming reactions were included in the chemical reaction model. Mass, momentum, energy, and species balance equations were simultaneously calculated with the chemical reactions for the multiphysics analysis. By varying the four operating conditions (inlet temperature, oxygen to carbon ratio (OCR), steam to carbon ratio, and gas hourly space velocity (GHSV)), the performance of the ATR reactor was estimated by the numerical calculations. The SR reaction rate was improved by an increased inlet temperature. The reforming efficiency and the fuel conversion reached their maximum values at an OCR of 0.7. When the GHSV was increased, the reforming efficiency increased but the large pressure drop may decrease the system efficiency. From these results, we can estimate the optimal operating conditions for the production of large amounts of hydrogen from methane.


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