Development of a Pellet Catalytic Combustor for a Small Scale Generation System Using Near Infrared Ray Irradiation

Abstract

Several geometric types of the small scale catalytic combustors applying the pellet catalysts as both the heat source and the emitter for infrared ray generation were developed in order to investigate the catalytic combustion phenomenon and the effective operation conditions for the TPV generation system. The results of temperature measurements and exhaust gas analyses showed that there were the optimal width and length of the combustor geometry for the high combustion efficiency and the reduction of the residual CO concentration. The ultraviolet and visible spectral measurements showed that the surface chemical reaction was predominant in the catalytic combustion and the gas phase reaction which causes higher temperature and higher reaction rate than those of the surface reaction scarcely occurred in the developed combustor. The near infrared spectral measurements showed that the pellet catalysts in the combustor could play the role of the emitter for the TPV generation system.