Thermodynamic Analysis of Fuel Processing

Thermodynamic analysis of equilibrium products and heat requirements is conducted for C₈H₁₈ (octane), CH₄O (methanol), C₂H₆O (ethanol) and C₃H₈ (propane) at specified temperature and pressure. The equilibrium calculation utilizes the NASA equilibrium code by Gordon and MacBride. The temperature range is from 600 to 1700 K, and the pressure is set at 1 bar. The equilibrium calculation shows that the adiabatic temperatures are generally below 1300 K, except for C₂H₆O and C₃H₈ at their respective partial oxidation conditions considered in this paper. Calculation also shows that the presence of H₂O in the reactant mixture yields high conversion of H₂ at temperature above 1200 K, and above which the H₂ mole fraction is relatively independent of the mixture temperature. Negligible C_(graphite) is predicted for conditions with temperature above 1200 K.