A front view of the First-Generation Supercritical Water Reformation (SWR) Unit is shown. The state of the art supercritical water reformation unit comprises of an 8 ft by 4 ft by 4 ft steel enclosure which is caster mounted for mobility. The supercritical water unit is comprised of three reactors: a supercritical water reactor, an acid gas removal packed bed reactor, and a catalyzed water gas shift reactor. The front of the enclosure has operator accessible valves, pressure gauges, water reservoirs, and booster pump control. A LabVIEW based data acquisition and control system controls the heaters, reactor pressure, air feed rate to the reactor, and pump actuation. In addition the data acquisition and control system queries and records temperature at 20 different locations within the experimental process unit and pressure at five different locations. While in operation the interior of the unit is inaccessible.
Generation II Reactor: 400 mL Haynes Alloy 230 plug flow reactor, Parr Instrument Company
Generation II Reactor MAWP: 5250 psig at 800°C
Generation I Reactor: 1000 mL Inconel 625 Grade 1 plug flow reactor, Parr Instrument Company
Generation I Reactor MAWP: 5000 psig at 650°C
Modes of Operation: Continuous
Working Fluid: Supercritical Water, supercritical water and air, reformable fuel as feedstock.
Pressure Development: Booster pump (pneumatically driven compressor) and micro-metering pumps
Control and Acquisition: Computer based data acquisition and control
Principal Applications: Supercritical water reformation of fuels to hydrogen. Supercritical water fromation of biofuels to hydrogen. Fuel feedstocks included military logistics fuel (JP-8), civilian aviation fuel (Jet-A), diesel, kerosene, methane, methanol, ethanol, along with other hydrocarbons.
In interior of the system enclosure for the Second Generation supercritical water reformation unit is the 400 mL Haynes Alloy 230 reactor, acid gas removal reactor, water gas shift reactor, pneumatically driven booster pump, electro-pneumatically actuated control valves, mass flow meter for air feed, and pressure diffusion drum. In addition there are two combustion monitors to detect possible combustible gas and liquid leaks which alerts the data acquisition and control system and operator.
There is a Third-Generation reactor for the supercritical water reformation process system that is installed on a different process layout, hardware frame, and enclosure. The reactor body is made of Inconel 625 Grade 2 and Haynes Alloy 282. The Third-Generation process system has been designed and built as a Multi-fuel Reformer (MFR) system that is capable of reforming many different hydrocarbon and oxygenated feedstocks as well as mixed feeds into hydrogen-rich syngas.
Sunggyu Lee, PhD 