No 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.

A new compact plasma torch associated with a resonance power supply allows the generation of low power discharges (typically 100 W-1 kW) under high voltage (>1 kV) low current (<1 A) conditions. The resonance power supply allows continuous control of the discharge current, which is a major improvement with respect to the traditional dc power source based on a high voltage transformer. In addition, this system is characterized by a high conversion efficiency that is crucial when it comes to industrial applications. It has been shown that different regimes ranging from streamer over gliding arc to continuous discharges were obtained depending on the operating conditions. The objective of this paper is a better understanding of the different observed behaviour through the determination of the main torch and power supply parameters.

Onboard hydrogen production out of hydrocarbons for fuel cells is subject to problems when using traditional catalytic reformers. High device weight, a relatively long transient time, and catalyst poisoning all serve to make their integration in a vehicle complex. In response to these challenges, reforming processes based on cold plasma have been recently implemented . This paper presents a theoretical analysis of hydrogen production out of gasoline assisted by arc discharge. A wide range of O/C and H2O/C ratios (including partial oxidation and pure steam reforming) have been investigated, together with different forms of injected power and reactor conditions. Both thermodynamic equilibrium and kinetic calculations (e.g., perfectly stirred reactor, plug flow reactor) were performed. Thermodynamic equilibrium calculations provide theoretical upper limits of the process via input parameters, while the kinetic computations provide a more realistic estimation of both output composition and process efficiency.