OP-II-3

OP-III-B-18SYNGAS AND HYDROGEN PRODUCTION IN A VOLUMETRICRADIATION BURNERIntroductionArutyunov V.S., Shmelev V.M., Sinev M.Yu., Shapovalova O.V.Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics, Russ. Acad. Sci.,Kosygina 4, Moscow, 119991, Russia, arutyunov@center.chph.ras.ruSteam and steam-oxygen reforming of natural gas are routinely used in industrialpractice to produce synthesis gas (syngas) and hydrogen. The economical efficiencyof these processes sharply falls at decreasing scale of production, so the possibilityof their use in low-scale installations required for on-site utilization of natural andassociated petroleum gases to prevent their loss or flaring on gas wells and oil fieldsis doubtful. Also, they can hardly be used for distributed production and supplynetworks of hydrogen for future transportation needs.The use of radiation burners based on flat permeable matrixes allows one toimprove the efficiency of gas combustion due to a substantially decreasing flamefront temperature and, consequently, formation of nitrogen oxides. However, theconversion of chemical energy to intense IR radiation in such open system leads tothe increasing loss of energy from the combustion zone and, as a result, to anarrowing of the combustion limits. The latter hampers the hydrocarbon oxidation athigh fuel-to-oxygen ratios, at which the formation of syngas (H 2 and CO) can takeplace. In the case of deep volumetric (3D) matrixes, the combustion proceeds in theircavities in the conditions of partially (or almost fully) locked IR radiation, that leads tosubstantial decreasing energy losses by radiation and thereby widening thecombustion limits in the areas of both fuel lean [1] and fuel rich [2] mixtures.In this work, the possibility of syngas and hydrogen production based on thenatural gas (methane) oxidative conversion at high methane-to-oxygen ratios in avolumetric permeable matrix in the conditions of locked IR radiation is demonstrated.Experimental partThe experiments were performed in a 3D burner with a rectangular cavity(internal cross-section 80x40 mm, depth 115 mm). Matrix walls and bottom werefabricated from perforated 15-mm-thick ceramic tiles with cylindrical channels of 1.2mm diameter. The ratio of the total channel cross-section area to the tile area was215