Journal Article Review

Dwi Saputro Sinugroho (2018380003)

Small-scale reforming of diesel and jet fuels to make hydrogen and syngas for fuel cells:
A review

The journal or paper that I want to review in this summary is Small-scale reforming of diesel
and jet fuels to make hydrogen and syngas for fuel cells: A review that is written by Hinhai Xu,
Peiwen Li, and Yuesong Shen. The overall content, this paper was discussed how the
technological features are built and the challenges of auto thermal reforming (ATR) of
hydrocarbon fuels in producing the hydrogen and syngas.

This paper is started through its background and tell about how fossil fuel is not going to be
unsustainable in the future as the reason for reforming diesel and fuels. The reason why this
paper is focusing on diesel and jet fuels because those are commonly used in the ships, aircraft,
and trucks. Not only about that, but the diesel usage also had some advantageous because it has
several characteristics that are lower flammability than gasoline and having higher efficiency.
Moreover, the good things from generating the power fuel cells due to these following three
advantages: “it will (a) supply more clean fuels, (b) increase energy utilisation efficiency, and
(c) decrease pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions, (Xinhai et al. 203)

In the mechanism of reforming, there is three main mechanisms, such as steam reforming,
partial oxidation, and autothermal reforming. The steam reforming is identified as the
endothermic process because it has ΔH more than zero. Otherwise, the two other procedures
such as partial oxidation and autothermal reforming, are classified as an exothermic process. I
thought that this process is fascinating because it requires a combination of heat, whether from
the external or internal source. For the steam reforming, the processing system is oppressive.
Then, for the partial oxidation, this process has several characteristics such as rapid responses,
compactness, and fast start-up. To prevent the operation of coking in the reactor, this process
required a high exothermic reaction process which requires the temperature around 11000 C to
12000. In the autothermal reforming, it is a process that combines the endothermic steam
reforming and exothermic partial oxidation.

Here is the table of the advantages and disadvantages of each different method.
 Table 1. Comparison of Reforming Technologies [1]

Technologies Advantages Disadvantages

Steam reforming
Partial oxidation
Autothermal reforming
Most industrial experience Highest air emissions
Oxygen not required Heavy system
Lowest temperature Heat source required
Highest H2/CO ratio
Slow startup
Higher sulfur tolerance Low H2/CO ratio
No heat source required Highest temperature
Compact system Coke formation
Fast startup Oxygen or air required
Too much heat produced
Medium temperature Limited experience
No heat source required Oxygen or air required
Favourable H2/CO ratio
Least coke formation
Relatively compactness

Resources :

Xu, X., Li, P., & Shen, Y. (2013). Small-scale reforming of diesel and jet fuels to make
hydrogen and syngas for fuel cells: A review. Applied Energy, 108, 202-217.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2013.03.028