Development of a plate-laminated methanol steam reformer for hydrogen production

A plate-laminated methanol steam reformer for hydrogen production was developed. The reformer comprised of two end-plates and multiple stainless steel plates with chambers, in which filled in nickel foam sheets as the catalyst carrier, and a developed Cu/Zn/Al/Zr-Oxide catalyst was coated inside the nickel foam sheets for methanol steam reforming. Multiple plates were firstly stacked together and sealed by graphite gasket material between each other, and then tightened with four screws and two end-plates to yield a monolithic leak-tight system. In the stage of experiments, four electrical heater cartridges were loaded into the end-plates to supply the necessary heat for the reforming reaction. The system excluding fittings measured 85 mm by 85 mm by 40 mm. The effects of the composition of catalyst, the loading of catalyst and feed flow rate on the reformer performance were investigated by experiments. At 255 °C, the molar ration of S/C of 1 for a feed flow rate of 72 ml/h, the reformer with the loading of 6g catalyst produced 3.19 mol/h H2, and the estimated power output was 120 W.