Steam reforming of liquid hydrocarbon fuels for micro-fuel cells. Pre-reforming of model jet fuels over supported metal catalysts

The present work deals with pre-reforming of logistic hydrocarbon fuel (jet fuel) as a part of an integrated approach to developing an on-board fuel reformer for use in a micro-solid-oxide fuel cell system. The purpose of doing pre-reforming is to ensure carbon-free reformulation of JP-8 jet fuel into hydrogen and carbon monoxide for use in a micro-solid-oxide fuel cell. Several model jet fuels have been tested for the pre-reforming at low temperature (450–550 °C) in a lab-scale reforming reactor. Proper temperature control and pre-mixing of feed fuels and steam have been found to be important for the prevention of coke formation prior to pre-reforming. Both noble metal and base-metal catalysts have been prepared and tested. As compared with an Al2O3-supported Ni catalyst, supported Rh catalysts show not only high activity but also high resistance to deactivation due to carbon formation. Removal of residual Cl− from Rh/CeO2–Al2O3 improves the metal dispersion and the pre-reforming activity. The reformates from the current pre-reformer contain mainly CH4, CO, H2, in which CH4 can be further converted to H2 and CO by subsequent main-reforming.