Experimental and Kinetic Analyses of Thermochemical Fuel Reforming (TFR) with Alcohol Enrichment in Plug Flow Reactor: a Verification of In-Cylinder TFR

In-cylinder thermochemical fuel reforming (TFR) in spark ignition natural gas engine was developed to reveal that thermochemical fuel reforming could increase H₂ and CO concentration in reformed gas, leading to an increase of thermal efficiency and engine performance. Moreover, ethanol enrichment has been proved to have great potential to optimize TFR performance. In order to explain TFR phenomenon chemically, methane oxidation experiments were conducted in a laminar flow reactor with addition of ethanol and methanol at equivalent ratios of 1.5, 1.7, 1.9 and 2.1 from 948K to 1098K at atmospheric pressure. Experimental results showed that methanol have great ability to facilitate the oxidation of methane than that of ethanol. Meanwhile, the degree of methane conversion became more significantly as the equivalent ratio increased. Kinetic analysis of oxidation of methane with alcohol enrichment in a plug flow model was also conducted in this study. There was good agreement between experimental and computational results. The oxidation of methanol or ethanol released plenty of radicals such as H, OH and HO₂, which further reacted with CH₄ more intensively in fuel rich condition. Rate of production and sensitivity analyses showed that methanol could produce more reactive radicals, which were involved in a series of initial oxidation reactions of methane. It indicated that methanol have great potential to improve in-cylinder TFR performance.