Modeling and experimental characterization of a methanol steam reformer for a high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane (HT-PEM) fuel cell system

Methanol is a liquid fuel that can be produced by renewable means and used in HT-PEM fuel cells, where a steam methanol reformer is used to provide a hydrogen rich mixture to the fuel cell. A steady-state non-isothermal model of the methanol steam reformer has been developed to predict the reformate contaminants and methanol conversion of the reformer. Kinetic reactions were based on a Langmuir-Hinshelwood model considering the methanol steam reforming (MSR), water gas shift (WGS) and methanol decomposition (MD) reactions. Heat transfer between hot air and catalyst bed, as well as heat and mass transfer phenomena inside reformer were considered. The performance of the reformer in terms of methanol conversion and CO concentration has also been examined to study the effect of different operating conditions.