[CCoE Notice] [CCOE Notice] PhD Dissertation Presentation

[Abercrombie, Irene F]

PhD Dissertation Defense
A Compact and Efficient Steam Methane Reformer for Hydrogen Production
Willard Quon
Date: Thursday, July 26, 2012

Location: Chemical Engineering Conference Room, S234
Time: 2:00 PM

Committee Chair: Dr. J. Richardson


Development of economical sources of hydrogen for transportation and manufacturing needs is driven by requirements to reduce hydrocarbon and green-house gas emissions from current fossil fuels and reduce dependence on imported petroleum. Small hydrogen generating units have been promoted by the U.S. Department of Energy as a means of accelerating market acceptance of hydrogen as a transportation fuel.  They also provide a transitional distributed production supply infrastructure until large scale centralized production and distribution networks can be created.  Additionally, such units can also provide economical hydrogen supplies for non-transportation markets such as:
(1)   Small-scale food processors and specialty chemical manufacturers far removed from the large centralized hydrogen production units, and
(2)   Stationary fuel cells, such as those used as backup power supplies in hospitals or telecommunications towers.

A small-scale steam-methane reforming system for localized, distributed production of hydrogen offers improved performance and lower cost by integrating  the following  technologies developed at the University of Houston;
(1)   Catalyzed steam-methane reforming on ceramic foam catalyst substrates.
(2)   Coupling of reformers to remote heat sources via heat pipes instead of heating by  direct-fired heaters.
(3)    Catalytic combustion of methane with air on ceramic foam substrates as the heat source.
Each of these three technologies confer benefits improving the efficiency, reliability, or cost of an integrated compact steam-methane reforming system.  Key parameters of the catalytic processes were evaluated to arrive at an optimum design for a more cost-effective hydrogen fueling station.  Using U.S. Department of Energy hydrogen system economic modeling tools, this system was found to be superior to existing demonstrated options for small-scale hydrogen production.

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