Non-premixed reactive volatilization reactor for catalytic reforming of ethanol and E85

Compact reforming of liquid fuels like ethanol and gasoline requires simultaneous evaporation and catalytic partial oxidation. In this work, a small-scale reactive volatilization reactor was examined for compact reforming of ethanol and 85% ethanol mixed with iso-octane (E85). Results show the reactor can simultaneously vaporize and reform both fuels with high conversion (up to ~45%) and high reforming efficiency (up to ~97%), defined as the ratio of lower heating value of the syngas over that of the fuel. The demonstrated result shows that the non-premixed configuration is a viable option for compact reforming at high molar carbon to oxygen ratio while avoiding soot formation.