Experimental investigation of Methane Partial Oxidation in Porous Media for Hydrogen Production

One of the future technologies for energy supply in the electricity and automotive industries is the use of fuel cells. Hydrogen is the main source of fuel in fuel cells. Methane reforming through partial oxidation of methane is one of the methods of hydrogen production. In this paper, this process for the production of hydrogen gas, which is the energy source of these fuel cells, is examined numerically and experimentally. In this paper the thermal partial oxidation process of methane was investigated numerically and experimentally. Thermodynamic calculations and kinetic simulation were performed to determine the practical operating conditions. Experimentally, a porous material-based reactor was built to perform the partial oxidation process. Al2O3 granular with different size selected as porous structures and installed in the reaction zone. Physical parameters include diameter of the rector is considered for other experimental test. As the result the temperature profiles along the reactor central axis and concentration profiles of CO and H2 were measured. Also the effects of equivalence air ratio on the reforming process were investigated. Different equivalence air ratio 1.5 and 2 was considered to perform the partial oxidation process.