A Study of Fuel and Reactor Design for Platinum Nanoparticle Catalyzed Microreactors

Abstract

Typical microcombustion-based power devices entail the use of catalyst to sustain combustion in less than millimeter scale channels. This work explores the use of several other candidate fuels for ~8 nm diameter Pt particle catalyzed combustion within 800 μm channel width cordierite substrates. The results demonstrate while commercial hydrocarbon fuels such as methane, propane, butane, and ethanol can be used to sustain catalytic combustion, room temperature ignition was only observed using methanol-air mixtures. Fuels, other than methanol, required preheating at temperatures >200°C, yet repeated catalytic cycling similar to methanol-air mixtures was demonstrated. Subsequently, a new reactor design was investigated to couple with thermoelectric generators. The modified reactor design enabled ignition of methanol-air mixtures at room temperature with the ability to achieve repeat catalytic cycles. Preliminary performance studies achieved a maximum temperature differenceΔTof 55°C with a flow rate of 800 mL/min. While the temperature difference indicates a respectable potential for power generation, reduced exhaust temperature and improved thermal management could significantly enhance the eventual device performance.

Modeling of Thermal Integration of a Catalytic Microcombustor with a Thermoelectric for Power Generation Applications

“…Vican et al designed a ceramic Swiss-roll combustor with a platinum-catalyzed central section, which was sandwiched between two TEG modules on either side to deliver electric power. The coupling of catalytic combustion with TEGs was also investigated for various hydrocarbons to exploit the properties of low-temperature ignition. − …”

A Novel Approach of Core-Shell Ag@Pt Nanoparticles Production

“…Pt-based nanoparticles with controlled morphology, structure and composition are catalytically active for both anodic (methanol oxidation reaction, MOR) and cathodic (oxygen reduction reaction, ORR) reactions of the direct proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) [1,2]. Similarly, Pt-based nanoparticles have numerous applications [3] such as a catalyst [4,5], in car exhaust systems [6,7], gas sensors [6], glucose sensors [8] and cancer therapy [9,10].…”

Auto-ignition performance of an electrified microreactor with constructal geometries

“…[11] showed that the catalysis of propane fuel in platinum coated microchannel investigated blowout limits under varying pressure conditions. Platinum nanoparticles were explored to catalyze multiple fuels of hydrocarbon fuels such as propane, butane and methane in an attempt to study the behaviour of reactants under the catalysis sustained combustion processes [12]. [13] presented numerical modelling of the chemical process of combustion based on Arrhenius assumptions, gas flow based on the Navier-Stokes equation and the Maxwell-Stefan equation was used to capture the concentration and temperature dependence of various species diffusivities.…”