Simulation Study on the Production of Hydrogen/Syngas via Partial Oxidation in a Natural Gas-Fueled Engine

Abstract
The automotive industry is considered as one of the biggest industries worldwide. On this field, continuous research
and development are performed to improve efficiencies of cars and trucks. Increasing efficiencies of automotives not
only lead to cost reduction but also to reduced pollution, which is very important in today’s society. Therefore, each
country in the world is carrying out research on developing alternative energy sources. Therefore, it is essential to
develop the environment-friendly alternative energy urgently considering the limitation of fossil fuel and the global
warming caused by environmental destruction. In this research, the new technology to produce hydrogen and syngas
from natural gas with a homogeneous charge compression ignition reforming engine was studied. The simulat ion tool
used was CHEMKIN 3.7, using the GRI natural gas combustion mechanism. This simulation was conducted on the
changes in hydrogen and syngas concentration according to the variations of equivalence ratio, intake heating
temperature, and oxygen enrichment with partial oxidation. Through the parametric screening studie s, optimum
conditions in this study were found: The equivalence ratio was 2.5; The inlet temperature was 530 K, and the oxygen
contents in air was 0.3.