A million-channel reformer on a fingertip: moving down the scale in hydrogen production

E. LÓPEZ; A. IRIGOYEN; T. TRIFONOV; A. RODRIGUEZ; R. ALCUBILLA; J. LLORCA

Salamanca, España

Conferencia; EUROPACAT IX; 2009

The present contribution concerns the design, manufacture and experimental proof of conceptof an ethanol micro-reformer for portable fuel-cell feeding. Through photo-assistedelectrochemical etching, a micromonolithic substrate with perfectly parallel cylindricalchannels of ~3-4 μm diameter was obtained (density of channels of ca. 4x104 channels/mm2).The channels´ walls were coated with a cobalt-based catalyst. The resultant functionalizedmicromonolith was implemented in a stainless-steel machined microreactor including feedevaporation facilities. The unit was successfully tested for ethanol steam reforming underdiluted and non-diluted feed conditions, rendering high H2 production rates and adequateselectivity profiles at T<773K and extremely low residence times.