Enhancing Hydrogen Production for Fuel Cell Vehicles by Superposition of Acoustic Fields on the Reformer: A Preliminary Study Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering Department, University of California Davis

Format:

Book

Conference/Event

Author/Creator:

Erickson, Paul Anders, author.

Conference Name:

SAE 2003 World Congress & Exhibition (2003-03-03 : Detroit, Michigan, United States)

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource cm

Place of Publication:

Warrendale, PA SAE International 2003

Summary:

Because of recent interest in energy independence, efficiency, and environmental issues, fuel cell vehicles are seen by many to be the way of the future. As near term fuel cell vehicles will likely use the existing liquid fuel infrastructure, the efficient reformation of hydrocarbon fuels is one technological hurdle that must be addressed.An investigation has been made into the possibility of enhancing reformation processes through superposition of an acoustic field on the catalyst bed of a methanol-steam reformer. As part of this study, background is given outlining the difficulties and liabilities of steam-reformation for transportation applications. The facility studied includes a steam-reforming reactor that has been modified to accept an acoustic field. The effect of the acoustic field was experimentally investigated with relation to fuel conversion and temperature profile.Although the facility used has not been optimized for utilizing acoustic waves, significant acoustic enhancement of the steam-reformation process is demonstrated. It is expected that for different fuels and/or reforming methods, similar results would be obtained for comparable process constraints

Notes:

Vendor supplied data

Publisher Number:

2003-01-0806

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license