One of the research hypothesis that will be investigated in the project is if a single component can process multi-fuels and reform/crack it to the extent that the output fuel is suitable for use in the SOFC stack.
VTT who is a key partner in the project and has the expertise in catalysis has the active lead on this particular topic. The groundwork is already established to delve deep into this hypothesis. In the first stage, a suitable catalyst will be selected and tested under defined operating conditions to find the right amount of loading, the heating power required for the reformer/cracker unit and also the catalyst bed dimensions. In the second stage, the operation of the multi-fuel reformer/component will be compared against simulated (pre-calibrated) gases and in the last stage the unit will be integrated with the SOFC stack itself for combined operation.
The flow diagram below shows how the multi-fuel mixture is feed to the reform/cracking unit and then analysed.
The figure below shows how the main components are placed in the test station frame.
The test station is connected to PLC automation that is used to control the operating parameters in the process and to save the data from the measurement instruments.
Results from the activity will be key to make the FuelSOME system truly multi-fuel compatible.
Author: Saxelin Santeri (VTT), Vikrant Venkataraman (AVL List)