HYDROGEN PRODUCTION: AUTOTHERMAL REFORMING OF LIGHT HYDROCARBONS COUPLED WITH INNOVATIVE CATALYSTS

The primary interest on reforming gasoline and/or diesel feeds as well as natural gas to produce pure H₂ or a syngas stream, is associated to the already existing distribution infrastructure which may lead to substantial advantages for stationary power application or vehicle refuelling.
The conversion of light hydrocarbons can be carried out by several reaction processes, including steam reforming (SR), partial oxidation (PO) and autothermal reforming (ATR). The potential interest to use hydrogen as an energy vector, as a transportation fuel and for distributed power production, as well as the pressure to reduce costs in traditional application, has pushed a revival into the reforming technology.
The topic of this note is to analyze all the data obtained by the experimental tests and laboratory analysis, in order to study the results and make a proper evaluation of the best projectual solutions.
The aim is to individuate a good promising reactor design based on the autothermal reforming coupled with innovative catalysts, to produce small amount of hydrogen from light hydrocarbons (capacity 100−5000 Nm³/h). Particularly this study is based on analyzing the performance data for a natural gas fuel processor for 300−500kW electric power MCFC in stationary applications and its conversion to hydrogen production.
For the solution identified, also the investment and production costs as well as the improvement ways, have been analysed.