Experimental Study on Gasoline Reforming Assisted by Nonthermal Arc Discharge

Abstract

On-board hydrogen production out of hydrocarbons reforming for fuel cells feed-in is subject to problems when using traditional catalytic reformers. High device weight, a relatively long transient time, and catalyst poisoning make their integration in a vehicle complex. In response to these challenges, reforming processes based on cold plasma have been implemented over recent years. This paper presents a nonthermal arc discharge system based on a high voltage, low current power source (about 2 kV and 0.5 A), designed to convert gasoline into hydrogen rich gas under autothermal or partial oxidation conditions for car applications.

Non-thermal plasma enhanced heavy oil upgrading

“…Studies have been conducted that focus on light oil processing or reforming, which aim to produce hydrogen-rich gas for onboard vehicle fuel cells or syngas [12][13][14][15]. Plasma technology can be introduced into the heavy oil upgrading field to reduce hydrogen partial pressure and to avoid the requirements for expensive catalysts in traditional hydroprocessing.…”

Three-Dimensional Unsteady MHD Modeling of a Low-Current High-Voltage Nontransferred DC Plasma Torch Operating With Air

“…The high degree of non-equilibrium of this torch is promising for chemical applications to support chemical reactions selectively [26], but suffer from a lack of knowledge of its physics and chemistry. Our researches led to the development of basic knowledge on both experimental [27], [28] and numerical [29], [30] sides. Unfortunately, whereas many studies have been dedicated to high current plasma discharges, the literature on MHD modeling of low current -high voltage plasma torches is very poor and the domain remains almost unexplored.…”

Influence of a Gas Injection Direction on the Reforming Performance in a Bipolar Pulse-Driven Plasma Reactor Operating at Atmospheric Pressure

“…It has been reported in experiments [11,13] and simulations [16,18] of conventional arc reformers that the conversion rate continuously increases with the O 2 /C ratio, whereas an increase in conversion rate does not guarantee an improvement in reforming efficiency. This occurs because the selectivity of H 2 and CO decreases with increasing O 2 /C ratio.…”

“…The plasma reforming methods carried out at atmospheric pressure can be divided into two groups: streamer [7][8][9] and arc [6,[10][11][12][13][14] methods. The dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) [7,8] and corona [9] techniques are typical examples of streamer discharge, characterized by a low current and a high voltage operation with a dynamic electrical behavior.…”

“…The direct current (DC) plasmatron [14,15], DC plasma torch [11], and alternative gliding arc [10,12] techniques are examples of an arc reformer used for hydrogen production. The gas temperature in the arc operation is usually high enough to break down the hydrocarbon fuel, so that the relatively good reforming performance has been attained, even without the help of a catalyst.…”