Numerical Simulation and Experimental Study on Commercial Diesel Reforming Over an Advanced Pt/Rh Three-Way Catalyst

Hydrocarbon fuel reforming has been proven useful for producing hydrogen that is utilized on road vehicles, but it is associated with reaction mechanism and catalyst characterization. In this study, a reduced mechanism for n-heptane/toluene reforming over an advanced Pt/Rh TWC is adopted to investigate the effects of the reaction conditions on H-2 and CO concentrations. The physical and chemical properties of the advanced catalyst are examined using SEM, XRD and XPS analyses. The contrasted experiments are conducted to study the composition variation tendency of the reforming reactor gas product. The results show that the POX reaction is most likely to occur considering the stoichiometric ratio of H-2/CO, and other reactions are SR or ATR. The coke formation and carbon deposition occur on the catalyst surface, and the diffraction peaks corresponding to the metallic Pt are observed, while no obvious peaks characteristic of Rh are detected. The characteristics of the concentration trend of n-heptane/toluene reforming can represent H-2 and CO yield features of diesel reforming in a way; nevertheless, the difference of the average H-2 and CO concentration is remarkable.