JP3436809B2 - Raw material gas reformer - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a raw material gas reformer, and more particularly to a raw material gas reformer for reforming the properties of a raw material gas through a heating catalyst. 2. Description of the Related Art As this kind of raw material gas reformer, there is an existing one as shown in FIG. That is, the second cylinders 4 are arranged in an outer region of the first cylinder 3 as a combustion chamber having the heat source 2 at a lower portion at intervals, and the upper surface of the second cylinder 4 is closed. And a reflecting wall 4a for the combustion gas rising in the first cylindrical body 3, and a third cylindrical body 5 is disposed in an outer region of the second cylindrical body 4, and an inner peripheral surface of the third cylindrical body 5 While the catalyst 6 is filled between the outer peripheral surface of the second cylindrical body 4 and the upper surface of the third cylindrical body 5, the upper surface of the third cylindrical body 5 is closed with a canopy 5 a having a source gas supply port 5 b, and the combustion gas generated by the heat source 2 is formed. 7 is formed of a combustion gas passage 7a by a reflecting wall 4a.
Then, the catalyst 6 is heated here, and the raw material gas G supplied from the raw material gas supply port 5b is passed through the heated catalyst 6, whereby the properties of the raw material gas G are reduced by a catalytic reaction. It is made to reform. [0003] However, in the raw material gas reformer, the height of the reflecting wall for guiding the combustion gas 7 rising in the first cylinder with high heat to the combustion gas passage 7a is increased. The position is provided above the upper surface position of the filled catalyst, so that a vertical difference is formed between the two. [0004] Therefore, the combustion gas generated by the heat source is supplied before the catalyst is heated in the combustion gas passage, not only causing unnecessary heat radiation in the space including the upper and lower outer peripheral regions but also causing significant heat loss. Since the raw material gas in the heated space region is excessively heated, when the excessively heated high-temperature raw material gas comes into contact with the upper part of the catalyst, it thermally damages the upper layer of the catalyst, deteriorating the catalyst and reducing its service life. There was a problem such as shortening the life. The present invention has been made in view of the former problem, and an object of the present invention is to prevent the supplied raw material gas from being excessively heated while effectively using the combustion gas without heat loss. It is another object of the present invention to provide a raw material gas reformer having a simple structure that can prevent deterioration of the catalyst itself and heat loss of the upper portion of the second cylindrical body and has a high durability. According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, a plurality of cylinders are arranged outside a first cylinder having a heat source at a lower portion, and a plurality of cylinders are arranged above the first cylinder. Is provided with a reflecting wall for guiding the combustion gas rising in the cylinder to a downstream combustion gas passage, and a space between the first cylinder and a second cylinder located outside the first cylinder is guided by the reflection wall. And the passage of the combustion gas
Further, a space between the second cylinder and the third cylinder located outside the second cylinder is filled with a raw material gas reforming catalyst, and the upper end of the third cylinder is positioned above the reflecting wall of the first cylinder. The raw material gas is closed by a canopy having a raw material gas supply port, and the raw material gas supplied from the raw material gas supply port flows into the raw material gas reforming catalyst through a space area on the lower surface of the canopy, and the raw material gas is a combustion gas. In the raw material gas reformer configured to reform the properties of the raw material gas while passing through the heated raw material gas reforming catalyst, the upper surface of the raw material gas reforming catalyst may be a reflection wall of the first cylindrical body. The height is substantially equal to or higher than the height position. According to the above construction, the upper surface of the raw material gas reforming catalyst interposed between the second and third cylinders is higher than the reflecting wall provided on the upper surface of the second cylinder. With the height equal to or higher than the height, the combustion gas generated by the heat source is quickly guided to the downstream side by the reflecting wall without excessively heating the source gas. Then, a sufficient amount of heat is applied to the upper end of the catalyst, whose temperature tends to decrease due to the endothermic reaction accompanying the reforming of the raw material gas, to heat the catalyst. Therefore, the temperature distribution of the catalyst along the combustion gas passage is improved so as to gradually increase from the upper end to the lower end of the catalyst. An embodiment of the raw material gas reformer of the present invention will be described with reference to an embodiment of the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a sectional view of this embodiment. This embodiment is roughly divided into a heat source 2, a first cylindrical body 3 connected to the heat source 2, a second cylindrical body 4 provided outside the first cylindrical body 3, and a second cylindrical body 4. A reflecting wall 4a provided at an upper end, a third cylindrical body 5 provided outside the second cylindrical body 4, and a third cylindrical body 5;
A canopy 5a having a supply port 5b provided at the upper end of the
The catalyst 6 is interposed between the cylindrical body 4 and the third cylindrical body 5, and the upper surface position of the catalyst 6 and the height position of the reflection wall 4a are the same. . The heat source 2 is, for example, a flame-type open flame burner or the like, and is configured to discharge heat energy generated by combustion as combustion gas 7 into a first cylindrical body 3 to be described later. The first cylindrical body 3 is made of a cylindrical body made of a refractory material, and its lower end is erected to communicate with the heat radiating portion 2a of the heat source 2 and its upper end is formed in an open shape. The second cylindrical body 4 is formed of a cylinder fitted with a uniform space so as to be concentric with the outer peripheral surface of the first cylindrical body 3, and has an upper end formed with the first cylindrical body 3. At a position higher than the upper end of the fuel cell, it is closed by a reflective wall 4a to be described later, and the uniform space is formed as a combustion gas passage 7a.
The reflection wall 4a is formed of a refractory plate material, and is configured to abut a combustion gas 7 rising in the first cylindrical body 3 to guide reflection to the combustion gas passage 7a. The third cylindrical body 5 is formed of a cylindrical body fitted in an outer peripheral area further uniformly spaced from the outer peripheral surface of the second cylindrical body 4, and a lower end thereof is formed at a lower end of the second cylindrical body 4. 4b, the upper end thereof is closed by a later-described canopy 5a at a position above the second cylindrical body 4, and a space 5c is formed between the lower surface of the canopy 5a and the upper surface of the reflection wall 4a. It is made as follows. The canopy 5a is formed of a heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant plate material provided with a material gas supply port 5b communicating with a storage portion (not shown) of the material gas G at the center, and is fixed to an upper end of the third cylinder 5, The raw material gas G supplied from the supply port 5b is introduced into the catalyst 6 through the space 5c. The catalyst 6 is, for example, a nickel-based or noble metal-based catalyst. The upper surface of the catalyst 6 is located between the outer peripheral surface of the second cylindrical body 4 and the inner peripheral surface of the third cylindrical body 5. The catalyst 6 is filled with a uniform density so as to be at the same height as the height position, and is heated through the outer peripheral surface of the second cylindrical body 4 by the heat energy of the combustion gas 7 flowing through the combustion gas passage 7a.
To improve the properties of the raw material gas G passing therethrough. An outer cylinder 5d is provided on the outer peripheral surface of the cylindrical body 5 so as to be concentric with the outer peripheral surface and a predetermined space is separated therefrom, and this space is formed as a reformed gas passage 5e. The outer cylinder 5
The lower end of d is integrally connected to the lower end of the second cylindrical body 4 via a horizontal surface 5f, and the upper end of the lower end d is in contact with and fixed to the canopy 5a of the third cylindrical body 5, while the lower end is outside the upper part. There is provided a reformed gas outlet 5g communicating with the outlet, and the reformed gas G1 reformed by the catalyst is discharged from the outlet 5g via the reformed gas passage 5e. Further, a main body cylinder 1 having a bottomed cylindrical body is provided in an outer peripheral area of the outer cylinder 5d so as to surround the outer cylinder 5d, and an inner peripheral surface of the main body cylinder 1 and the outer cylinder are provided. A combustion gas discharge path 7b is formed between the outer peripheral surface 5d and the combustion gas discharge path 7b, and the used combustion gas 7 is discharged to the outside via the discharge path 7b. Next, the operation of the embodiment constructed as described above will be described. In this embodiment, a raw material gas (mainly methane gas) G supplied from a supply port 5b is passed through a catalyst 6 heated by a combustion gas 7 to cause a reforming reaction. It is used for the anode side of the fuel cell. Specifically, the raw material gas G supplied from the supply port 5b passes through a space 5c between the lower surface of the canopy 5a and the upper surface of the reflecting wall 4a, and flows between the second cylindrical member 4 and the third cylindrical member 5. The gas is charged at a predetermined temperature (600 ° C. to 750
C.) while being passed through the catalyst 6 heated to (° C.), the properties thereof are reformed, and the reformed gas G1 (hydrogen) is released from the discharge port 5g through the reformed gas passage 5e. The fuel is supplied to the anode side of a battery (not shown) as a reaction fuel. In this case, the reflecting wall 4a for guiding the high temperature combustion gas 7 generated by the heat source 2 to the combustion gas passage 7a.
Is provided at the same height position as the upper surface position of the filled catalyst 6, so that the unreacted raw material gas G present in the space 5c is not inadvertently heated, Therefore, the catalyst 6 can flow into the catalyst 6 at an appropriate temperature required for the reaction (600 ° C. in the embodiment). Moreover, since the raw material gas G flows into the catalyst 6 and efficiently heats the upper part (inlet region) of the catalyst which actively performs the reforming reaction (endothermic reaction) by the combustion gas, the temperature distribution line X in FIG.
As shown by a curve, the temperature is gradually adjusted to an appropriate temperature (700 ° C. to 750 in the embodiment) by a flat distribution line without undulation passing through an appropriate temperature range.
° C). As a result, the reforming reaction of the raw material gas G is always stably performed at the optimum heating temperature, and the ideal appropriate temperature of 700 ° C. to 75 ° C.
A good quality reformed gas G1 maintained at 0 ° C. can be obtained. The temperature distribution line X1 in FIG. 3 is a measured value in a conventional reformer. The temperature distribution in FIG.
This was measured using a 00 mm cylindrical catalyst (height: about 400 mm, thickness: 20 mm). Next, a second embodiment will be described as another example according to the present invention. FIG. 2 shows the second embodiment, in which the same members are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof will be omitted. The second embodiment has exactly the same basic structure as the first embodiment described above. The upper end of the second cylindrical body 4 is extended upward by H, and the protective plate 4c is further disposed above the reflecting wall 4a. Is provided. In this case, the temperature of the raw material gas G existing in the space 5c can be positively protected from being heated on the upper surface of the reflection wall 4a, and the temperature of the raw material gas G before flowing into the catalyst is stabilized at an appropriate temperature (600 ° C.). A remarkable effect can be achieved in maintaining the quality. Further, when the protective plate 4c is made of a heat insulating material, the above effect can be further promoted. As described above, according to the present invention, the height position of the reflecting wall for guiding the combustion gas to the combustion gas passage and the height position of the top surface of the filled catalyst are the same or the same. By making the upper surface higher than that, the supplied raw material gas is prevented from being excessively heated, and the upper part of the catalyst into which the raw material gas flows can be efficiently heated. Thus, a temperature distribution in which the temperature of the catalyst is gradually increased can be realized, thereby providing an effect that a high-quality reformed gas can be obtained.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a raw material gas reformer of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing another example of the raw material gas reformer of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a change in temperature distribution comparing the present invention with a conventional example. FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a conventional raw material gas reformer. [Description of Signs] 2 Heat source 3 First cylinder 4 Second cylinder 4a Reflecting wall 5 Third cylinder 5a Canopy 5b Supply port 5c Space area 6 Catalyst 7 Combustion gas 7a Combustion gas passage G Source gas G1 Reformed gas

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Shigeru Sakamoto 2-5-5 Keihanhondori, Moriguchi-shi, Osaka Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Osamu Okada 4-1-2 Hiranocho, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi No. Osaka Gas Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Susumu Takami 4-1-2 Hirano-cho, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi Osaka Gas Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-6-115902 (JP, A) Hei 7-291603 (JP, A) Japanese Utility Model Showa 60-89234 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B01J 8/00-8/46 C01B 3/38 H01M 8 / 06 B01J 19/24 C10G 1/00-75/04

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims 1] A plurality of cylinders are arranged in an outer region of a first cylinder having a heat source at a lower portion, and a combustion rising in the cylinder is provided above the first cylinder. A reflecting wall for guiding gas to a downstream combustion gas passage is provided, and a space between the first cylindrical body and a second cylindrical body located outside the first cylindrical body is a passage for the combustion gas guided by the reflecting wall. The space between the second cylinder and the third cylinder located outside the second cylinder is filled with a raw material gas reforming catalyst, and the upper end of the third cylinder is supplied with the source gas at a position above the reflecting wall of the first cylinder. The source gas supplied from the source gas supply port, which is closed by a canopy having a port, flows into the source gas reforming catalyst through a space area on the lower surface of the canopy, and the source gas is heated by the combustion gas. In a raw material gas reformer that is configured to reform the properties of the raw material gas while passing through the raw material gas reforming catalyst, Serial upper surface of the raw material gas reforming catalyst, the raw material gas reformer, characterized in that is made substantially the same height or higher and the height position of the reflection wall of the first cylindrical body.