Progress on the Development of a 'Swiss-Roll' Fuel Reformer for Syngas Production

A Thermal Partial Oxidation (TPOX) based “Swiss-Roll” Reformer is being developed to convert hydrocarbon fuels into hydrogen rich syngas for subsequent use in a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) for electrical power generation. The “Swiss-roll” reformer is an efficient countercurrent heat exchanger that recuperates heat from the hot reformate stream generated internal to the reformer and preheats the cold reactants prior to entrance into a central region where the high temperature reforming reactions occur. Effective heat recuperation enables super-adiabatic temperatures to be achieved within the reformer which drives the reformate composition towards chemical equilibrium without the need for catalysts and/or external energy. The simplicity, compactness, lack of catalysts and fuel flexibility of the reformer are attractive. In this work, experimental data obtained using a 3D printed Swiss-roll reformer is reported that shows the conversion of representative fuel (propane) to syngas. The associated temperature and species concentrations taken at different locations within the reformer are also reported. These measurements provide information on the effectiveness of the heat exchange process as well as the reforming reactions inside the compact TPOX reformer.