JP2002037604A - Device for reforming fuel - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a high performance fuel reforming device in which combustion in the catalytic combustion part is uniform. SOLUTION: In a fuel reforming device in which hydrogen is produced by a reforming reaction of hydrocarbon and alcohol feed stock and, etc., the catalytic combustion part of the device has a characteristic that the combustion catalyst is densely arranged on the upper stream side of the fuel flowing in the catalytic combustion part and that is sparsely arranged on the lower stream so as to obtain a uniform temperature distribution in the part.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fuel reforming apparatus for producing hydrogen from a hydrocarbon or alcohol raw material by a reforming reaction, and more specifically, to a fuel reforming apparatus mounted on, for example, a portable fuel cell for a general power supply or an electric vehicle. A fuel reformer that is used to generate hydrogen required for fuel cells, etc., and converts hydrocarbon or alcohol raw materials into hydrogen-rich reformed gas, and improvement of its catalytic combustion unit (hereinafter also referred to as combustion unit) About.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional technique, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.
There is a fuel reformer disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 0-236802. FIG. 7 shows the configuration of the fuel reformer. In the figure, 1 is a liquid raw material heating section, 5 is a CO oxidation section, 7a is a heat recovery section (upper), 7b is a heat recovery section (lower), 2
Is an evaporating section, 4a is a shift section, 3 is a steam superheating section, 6a is a catalytic combustion section (upper), 4 is a reforming section, and 6b is a catalytic combustion section (lower).
It is. The solid line in the figure indicates the flow of the liquid raw material and the superheated steam, the broken line indicates the flow of the reformed gas, and the dashed line indicates the flow of the combustion gas.

Next, the operation will be described with reference to FIG. The liquid raw material of methanol and water is supplied to the liquid raw material heating unit 1. The flow rate of each of the methanol and water is adjusted in advance so that a predetermined steam-carbon ratio (for example, 1 to 5) is obtained. The methanol and water are preheated by heat exchange with the reformed gas flowing in the adjacent CO oxidizing unit 5 in the liquid raw material heating unit 1.

The preheated liquid raw material is evaporated in the evaporating section 2. The heat required for evaporation is mainly supplied by the exhaust heat of the combustion gas of the heat recovery unit 7a and the heat generation of the CO oxidation unit 5.
The temperature required for the evaporation is, for example, 150 to 200 ° C., so that the inlet temperature of the CO oxidizing section 5 is 240 ° C., and the low-temperature heat recovery section 7a discharges the combustion gas and the CO oxidizing section 5 generate heat. The temperature level is set high enough as a heat source.
Also, the temperature of the reformed gas flowing through the shift section 4a is 200 to 25.
It is sufficiently high as 0 ° C., and this is also used as a part of the heat of evaporation.

[0005] In the steam heating section 3, the steam of methanol / water is heated to a reforming temperature of 300 ° C. Therefore, on both sides of the steam superheater 3 in the vertical direction, a heat recovery unit 7b is provided as a heat source.
And a catalytic combustion section 6a. Catalytic combustion section 6a
The combustion gas temperature is set to a high temperature of 300 ° C.
It has enough heat to overheat to 00 ° C. The superheated steam, that is, the steam of the superheated methanol and water is supplied to the reforming section 4 and is converted into hydrogen and carbon dioxide by a reforming reaction. The heat required for the reforming reaction is generated by the catalytic combustion units 6 provided on both sides of the reforming unit 4 in the vertical direction, that is, on the upper and lower layers.
a, 6b.

In the catalytic combustion sections 6a and 6b, cell off-gas containing unused hydrogen discharged from a fuel electrode (not shown) of the fuel cell is burned with combustion air to be used as a heating source for a reforming reaction. . The temperature of the reforming section 4 is determined by the C in the reformed gas.
The temperature at which the O concentration can be reduced to below the allowable level of the fuel cell in the shift section 4a and the CO oxidizing section 5 and a high reforming rate, for example, 99% or more can be secured with respect to the generated reformed gas flow rate, for example, about 300 ° C. In order to set the temperature of the reforming section 4 to an appropriate temperature, the amount of combustion air (air ratio) in the catalytic combustion sections 6a and 6b is adjusted, so that the catalytic combustion section 6
The temperatures of a and 6b are set.

[0007] The reformed gas reformed in the reforming section 4 is introduced into the shift section 4a, and C in the reformed gas is introduced.
O and steam are converted into carbon dioxide and hydrogen by a shift reaction. The shift reaction proceeds to the carbon dioxide side as the temperature is lower due to chemical equilibrium. For example, when a copper-zinc-based shift catalyst is used, 200 to ensure a sufficient reaction rate.
Since a temperature of about 250 ° C. is required, the shift section 4a is connected to the evaporating section 2 (200 ° C.) and the high-temperature heat recovery section 7b (250 ° C.).
° C).

[0008] Before entering the CO oxidizing section 5, CO oxidizing air is introduced into the reformed gas exiting the shift section 4 a. The flow rate of the CO oxidizing air to be introduced is supplied in an amount equal to or more than an amount necessary for oxidizing CO in the reformed gas, for example, a flow rate corresponding to an amount 3 to 4 times the theoretical air amount. . Also, CO
The temperature of the oxidizing unit 5 is set to a temperature range suitable for CO oxidation determined by an experiment, for example, 110 to 240 ° C.
The CO oxidizing unit 5 is made up of the liquid raw material heating unit 1 and the low-temperature heat recovery unit 7
a, provided between the evaporation units 2.

[0009] The reformed gas of the CO oxidizing section 5 is supplied at the inlet at 150
By exchanging heat with steam at ~ 200 ° C or combustion gas at 250 ° C and exchanging heat with a low temperature liquid raw material at the outlet, a temperature distribution suitable for CO oxidation is maintained. At the outlet of the CO oxidizing unit 5, the reformed gas whose CO concentration has been reduced to a level below the allowable level of the fuel cell is supplied from the fuel reformer to the fuel electrode of the fuel cell.

[0010]

In the conventional configuration of the heat source for starting and load response of the fuel reforming apparatus as described above, the fuel reforming apparatus is operated at a temperature ranging from room temperature to the operating temperature of the reforming catalyst.
It took as long as about 30 minutes to start up to ° C.

Further, as a result of measurements by the inventors, as shown in FIG. 8, the combustion near the inlet of the catalytic combustion section is active and a large amount of fuel gas is burned here. Since the in-plane temperature distribution is large, the combustion section locally reaches the upper limit temperature (reforming catalyst heat-resistant temperature or heat-resistant temperature of constituent members of the combustion section), and there is a problem that the heating capacity of the combustion section cannot be maximized. Was.

In addition, when the load of the fuel cell is rapidly increased, the flow rate of the liquid raw material (water, methanol) is rapidly increased, so that the heat required for vaporization and the heat required for the reforming reaction are insufficient, and the temperature of the evaporating section decreases. Thus, there are problems that the evaporation becomes unstable and that the temperature of the reforming section decreases and the reforming rate temporarily decreases.

In addition, since a large temperature distribution occurs in the plane of the combustion section, the temperature locally exceeds the heat resistance temperature of the reforming catalyst and the heat resistance temperature of the constituent members, and the life is greatly reduced. Was.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above problems and to provide a high-performance fuel reformer.

[0015]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a fuel reforming apparatus for producing hydrogen from a hydrocarbon, an alcohol raw material, or the like by a reforming reaction. The distribution of the combustion catalyst arranged on the upstream side of the fuel flowing in the combustion part is made sparse, the distribution of the combustion catalyst arranged on the downstream side is made dense, and the combustion catalyst is arranged so that the temperature distribution in the catalytic combustion part becomes uniform. It is characterized by having done.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the fuel reforming apparatus according to the first aspect, the combustion catalyst is disposed so as to be continuously sparse to dense from the upstream side to the downstream side. .

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the fuel reforming apparatus according to the first aspect, the combustion catalyst is arranged so as to gradually increase in density from upstream to downstream. .

The invention according to claim 4 is the invention according to claims 1 to 3.
In the fuel reformer according to any of the above, from the upstream side to the downstream side, a plurality of bypass flow paths for passing a premixed gas of fuel and air so as not to contact the combustion catalyst,
The premixed gas is supplied to a combustion catalyst disposed on the middle stream and the downstream side.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the fuel reforming apparatus according to the fourth aspect, the bypass passage has a length from the upstream side which is shorter or longer depending on the arrangement of the combustion catalyst.

[0020] The invention of claim 6 is the invention of claims 1 to 3.
The fuel reformer according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the fuel reformer has a fuel supply unit adjacent to a catalytic combustion unit, and the fuel reformer includes a fuel supply unit disposed in a proper position in the catalytic combustion unit. The fuel supply unit is configured to be dispersed and supplied.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided the first to sixth aspects.
In the fuel reformer according to any one of the above, the fuel reformer includes a liquid fuel heating section, a CO oxidation section, a heat recovery section, a vaporization section, a supply section, a combustion section, and a reforming section from the upper layer to the lower layer. , The combustion section and the supply section are each formed in a plate shape, and are of a flat plate lamination type which are sequentially stacked.

[0022]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiment 1 Embodiment 1
The distribution of the combustion catalyst disposed on the upstream side of the fuel flowing through the catalytic combustion unit is reduced in the catalytic combustion unit of the fuel reformer that generates hydrogen by a reforming reaction from hydrocarbons and alcohol raw materials. The configuration is such that the distribution of the arranged combustion catalysts is dense, and the combustion catalysts are arranged such that the temperature distribution in the catalytic combustion section becomes uniform.

Hereinafter, as a first embodiment, a flat-bed type fuel reformer using methanol as a fuel will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing the configuration of the fuel reformer. In FIG. 1, the fuel reforming apparatus includes a liquid fuel heating section 1, a CO oxidizing section 5, a heat recovery section 7, a vaporizing section 31 as an evaporating section, and a supply section 3 from an upper layer to a lower layer.
2a, a combustion unit 33a, a reforming unit 4, a combustion unit 33b, and a supply unit 32b are each formed in a plate shape, and are a flat plate type fuel reforming device that is sequentially stacked in the vertical direction. In the figure, solid arrows indicate air as an oxidizing agent, broken arrows indicate methanol as a catalyst combustion fuel (hereinafter, also referred to as fuel), and dashed lines indicate a flow of combustion gas. The above-mentioned fuel includes not only methanol as a liquid but also partially vaporized methanol (hereinafter, referred to as offgas), and these are collectively referred to as methanol offgas.

In the fuel reforming apparatus of the first embodiment, as described above, the combustion section 33a, which serves as a catalytic combustion section disposed on the upper layer and the lower layer side of the reforming section 4 and burns methanol off-gas, Supply units 32a and 32b for supplying methanol / off-gas are provided in 33b, respectively. In addition, the above-mentioned combustion part 33a, 33b and supply part 32a,
When describing one of the 32b as an example, hereinafter, simply
They are called a combustion unit 33 and a supply unit 32. Now, as shown by the dashed line and the dashed line in FIG. 1, the methanol offgas as fuel is supplied to the respective combustion units 33a and 33b via the respective supply units 32a and 32b, and is supplied to the respective combustion units 33a and 33b.
a and 33b are mixed with air as an oxidizing agent supplied directly, and are burned by a combustion catalyst described later. Thus, the combustion gas generated by the combustion in the combustion sections 33a and 33b is:
It is discharged through the heat recovery unit 7.

Next, referring to FIG. 2, the structure of the combustion section 33 and the supply section 32 disposed on the upper and lower layers of the reforming section 4 will be described. Reference numeral 10 in the drawing denotes a combustion catalyst appropriately disposed in the plane of the combustion section 33. The combustion catalyst 10 of the first embodiment is a catalyst for burning methanol off-gas. These combustion catalysts 10 are provided in a plane inside the combustion section 33 as methanol-off gas as fuel flowing from an upstream side (right side in the figure) to a downstream side (left side in the figure) of the plane, and a fuel for combustion. It is appropriately arranged on the downstream side so as to efficiently contact the air. In the first embodiment, the combustion catalyst amount 10 is small on the upstream side of the supplied fuel and air, and the combustion catalyst amount 1 is small on the downstream side.
By arranging many 0s, that is, by arranging the distribution on the upstream side to be sparse and the distribution gradually becoming denser toward the downstream side,
The in-plane temperature distribution of the combustion part 33 was configured to be uniform.

FIGS. 3 and 4 both show the combustion section 33a,
FIG. 3 is a graph illustrating the distribution of the amount of the combustion catalyst 10 charged in the air 33b (33) in the direction of air flow for combustion. FIG. 3 shows a distribution in which the density gradually increases from the upstream side to the downstream side. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a distribution in which the density gradually increases from the upstream side to the downstream side, that is, a stepwise distribution.

Referring again to FIG. 2, reference numeral 11 in the figure denotes a fuel supply hole provided at an appropriate position in the combustion section 33 so as to open toward the inside of the combustion section 33. From these fuel supply holes 11, methanol offgas as fuel from the supply unit 32 is dispersed and supplied into the combustion unit 33. In the illustrated example, these fuel supply holes 11
Are arranged on the upstream side of the fuel flow path and the air flow path assumed in the plane of the combustion section 33, and are arranged in a row in the width direction of the flow path.

Next, the operation will be described. When the fuel reformer is started, first, as shown in FIG. 1, as a fuel for starting combustion, methanol / off gas is provided in a supply section 32a provided in an upper layer of the combustion section 33a and in a lower layer of a combustion section 33b. Is supplied to the supply unit 32b. Then, as shown in FIG. 2, each combustion part 33a, 32b (3
Methanol off-gas is supplied from a plurality of fuel supply holes 11 provided in 3) to a combustion unit 33 from respective supply units 32.
Is distributed and supplied inside.

When supplying the methanol off-gas, the temperature of the reforming catalyst (not shown) filled in the reforming section 4 described later is prevented from being deteriorated and the combustion section 33 is not heated.
The supply amount is controlled so that the temperatures of the members a and 33b fall within the temperature range that the members constituting the combustion portions 33a and 33b can withstand.

In the combustion sections 33a and 33b (33), the flow direction of the combustion air flowing in the plane inside the combustion sections 33a and 33b (33), that is, the combustion air flow direction is, for example, as shown in FIG. 3 or continuously as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 3, methanol-off gas and air are supplied to the surface of the combustion catalyst 10 arranged so as to be distributed from sparse to dense, and a state in which the methanol-off gas and air are mixed appropriately (hereinafter, referred to as “methanol off gas”). , Which is also referred to as a premixed gas), thereby efficiently burning. still,
The combustion catalyst 10 may be any suitable one, and examples thereof include platinum, palladium, and ruthenium catalysts supported on alumina.

The combustion heat generated on the surface of the combustion catalyst 10 is supplied to the upper and lower layer side supply units 32a, 32b (32).
And the reforming section 4 sandwiched between the combustion sections 33a and 33b (33) is efficiently heated from above and below. When the combustion gas passes through the heat recovery unit 7, the combustion gas heats the vaporization unit 31 located on the lower layer side of the heat recovery unit 7 and the methanol combustion catalyst ( (Not shown), the residual methanol premixture of the combustion gas is burned.

According to the first embodiment, the supplied methanol / off-gas gradually burns from the vicinity of the outlet of the fuel supply hole 11, so that the combustion portion 33a,
A uniform temperature distribution can be efficiently obtained in the plane of 33b (33). In addition, during steady operation, instead of methanol offgas which is fuel at the time of startup, an offgas containing unused hydrogen discharged from a fuel electrode (not shown) of the fuel cell is supplied to the same path as fuel at the time of startup. And the reforming section 4 sandwiched between the burning sections 33a and 33b is heated from the upper layer and the lower layer side by the catalytic combustion in the combustion sections 33a and 33b, and is used as a heating source for the reforming reaction. Can also. In addition, when the load is rapidly increased, the combustion required for evaporating (vaporizing) the methanol is insufficient in the combustion using only the off-gas, and the temperature of the vaporizing section 31 is reduced to make the evaporation unstable, or the temperature of the reforming section 4 is reduced. In some cases, the reforming rate may temporarily decrease. In these cases, in addition to off-gas combustion, methanol is further added to the combustion sections 33a, 33b.
, And the catalytic combustion of this methanol makes it possible to supply heat required for a sudden increase in load.

Embodiment 2 FIG. The second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that a plurality of bypass passages for passing a premixed gas of fuel and air are provided from the upstream side to the downstream side so as not to contact the combustion catalyst. In this configuration, a premixed gas of fuel and air is directly supplied to a combustion catalyst arranged on the downstream side. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, in the second embodiment, the configuration of the fuel supply hole for dispersing the fuel and supplying it to the combustion section, that is, the fuel dispersing and supplying means is not employed in the first embodiment.

Hereinafter, the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 40 denotes a fuel-air premixed gas in which the fuel for combustion of the catalyst and the air for combustion supplied from the upstream side of the combustion unit 33 are mixed in advance, that is, a part of the premixed gas. In order to supply the premixed gas directly from the upstream side to the combustion catalyst 10 so as not to come into contact with the combustion catalyst, the bypass flow path guides the premixed gas to the combustion catalyst 10 discharged to the middle flow area or the downstream area. is there. The bypass passages 40 are arranged in an appropriate number in the plane of the combustion section 33 so that the premixed gas efficiently contacts one of the combustion catalysts 10 from the upstream side to the downstream side. The length of the bypass flow path 40 from the upstream side may be different lengths or different lengths or different diameters depending on the distribution of the combustion catalyst 10. In short, in the plane of the combustion part 33, the combustion is not localized, and the combustion catalyst 10 is arranged according to the in-plane arrangement of the combustion so that the combustion is uniformly generated in the plane.
The premixed gas is supplied, for example, through the air supply path indicated by the solid line in FIG.
a and 32b, respectively, and mixed with methanol / off-gas as fuel to generate a premixed gas. From the supply units 32a and 32b (33), upstream means of the combustion units 33a and 33b, or Bypass channel 40
May be supplied to the middle or downstream side of the combustion sections 33a and 33b via the.

Next, the operation will be described. In the first embodiment, all the premixed gas flows from the upstream side into the combustion section 33, and then flows to the downstream side by leaving it naturally.
According to the second embodiment, when the premixed gas is supplied to the combustion section 33, at least a part of the premixed gas is supplied to the combustion section 33 by the length of the premixed gas. The fuel is supplied directly to the combustion catalyst 10 disposed in the middle or downstream of the combustion section 33 through several bypass passages 40 having different sizes.

According to the second embodiment, a part of the premixed gas supplied to the combustion section 33 by the bypass flow path 40 is supplied to the combustion catalyst disposed upstream or in the middle of the combustion section 33. 10 without being touched, it is directly supplied to the combustion catalyst 10 disposed in the middle stream or the downstream side,
A sufficient supply can be performed not only to the upper side and the middle side where the premixed gas is relatively sufficiently supplied, but also to the middle and downstream side combustion catalysts 10 where the premixed gas is relatively difficult to reach. Therefore, this makes it possible to generate catalytic combustion widely and uniformly in the plane of the combustion section 33.

Embodiment 3 In the third embodiment, the arrangement of the fuel supply holes 11 in the first embodiment is improved. This will be described with reference to FIG. FIG.
The combustion unit 33b and the supply unit 3 provided below the reforming unit 4
2b. Hereinafter, the combustion unit 33b and the supply unit 3
2b will be described as the combustion unit 33 and the supply unit 32. FIG.
In the above, a plurality of fuel supply holes 11 are provided in a row orthogonal to the flow direction of the premixed gas of combustion air and methanol / off gas as fuel, that is, the direction from upstream to downstream. Moreover, the rows are arranged in a plurality of steps in the flow direction. That is, in Embodiment 1 described above, a plurality of fuel supply holes 11 provided in one stage on the upstream side of the combustion unit 33 are replaced with the fuel supply holes 11 in Embodiment 3.
Then, it was configured to be arranged in multiple stages from upstream to downstream.

Next, the operation will be described. First, the methanol / off-gas as fuel introduced into the supply unit 32 is supplied to the combustion unit 33 from the supply unit 32 by the fuel supply holes 11, 11, 11 provided in a plurality of stages so as to pass through the combustion unit 33. The above-mentioned fuel is dispersed and supplied. On the other hand, since the inside of the combustion section 33 is filled with the combustion catalysts 10 arranged in a required distribution, a premixed gas of methanol-off gas and air as supplied fuel is burned. The catalyst comes into efficient contact with the surface of the catalyst 10. Thus, according to the third embodiment, catalytic combustion can be performed uniformly in the plane of the combustion section 33.

Embodiment 4 In the first to third embodiments, the case where methanol is used as the fuel has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and dimethyl ether, kerosene,
Liquid fuel such as gasoline or gas fuel such as off-gas, propane, natural gas, city gas, etc. may be used, and the same operation and effect can be obtained.

Embodiment 5 In the first embodiment, the case where only the methanol off-gas as the fuel is supplied from the supply units 32a and 32b (33) has been described. However, in any of the first to fourth embodiments, one of the combustion air is supplied. The fuel may be supplied in a mixed state with the above-described fuel.

[0041]

According to the first to seventh aspects of the present invention,
In any case, since the reforming section can be uniformly heated, the stable operation of the fuel reforming apparatus becomes possible. Further, it is possible to shorten the start-up time of the fuel reformer, improve the responsiveness at the time of a sudden increase in load, and suppress a reduction in the reforming life.

According to each of the first to third aspects of the present invention,
In any case, in the catalytic combustion section, the amount of combustion catalyst is reduced upstream of the supplied fuel and combustion air, and increased downstream to increase the in-plane density of the catalyst. The temperature distribution can be controlled uniformly, so that the start-up time of the fuel reformer can be reduced, the responsiveness at the time of a sudden increase in load can be improved, and the reforming life can be prevented from being shortened.

According to the fourth or fifth aspect of the present invention, the catalyst combustion section is provided with a bypass flow path through which a partially unburned premixed gas can flow downstream without contacting the combustion catalyst. Since the bypassed premixed gas is burned downstream, the in-plane temperature distribution of the reforming unit and the evaporating unit can be controlled uniformly, shortening the start-up time of the fuel reformer and improving the responsiveness when the load suddenly increases. In addition, it is possible to prevent the reforming life from being shortened.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, for example, in a catalytic combustion section having a catalytic combustion plate filled with a combustion catalyst,
Since a plurality of fuels can be dispersed and supplied onto the catalytic combustion plate on which the combustion air is uniformly flowed, the in-plane temperature distribution of the reforming section and the evaporating section can be controlled uniformly, and the fuel reforming can be performed. This makes it possible to shorten the start-up time of the apparatus, improve the responsiveness when the load suddenly increases, and prevent the reforming life from shortening.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a configuration of a fuel reforming apparatus according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a combustion unit and a supply unit according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a distribution of a catalyst filling amount according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing another distribution of the catalyst loading amount according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a structure of a combustion unit according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a combustion unit and a supply unit according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram showing a configuration of a conventional fuel reformer.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a measurement result of an in-plane temperature distribution of a combustion section in a conventional fuel reformer.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 liquid fuel heating section, 4 reforming section, 5 CO oxidizing section, 6
a combustion section (upper), 6b combustion section (lower), 7 heat recovery section, 10 combustion catalyst, 11 fuel supply hole, 31 vaporization section,
32 supply unit, 32a supply unit (upper), 32b supply unit (lower), 33 combustion unit, 33a combustion unit (upper), 33b
Combustion section (bottom), 40 bypass flow path.

Continued on front page F-term (reference) 3K065 TB02 TB13 TC07 TC10 TD04 TF01 TK02 TK04 4G040 EA02 EA03 EA06 EB12 EB23 EC07 5H027 AA02 BA01 BA09

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A fuel reformer that generates hydrogen from a hydrocarbon, an alcohol raw material, or the like by a reforming reaction, wherein a catalytic combustion section of the fuel reformer is disposed upstream of fuel flowing through the catalytic combustion section. Wherein the distribution of the combustion catalyst is made sparse, the distribution of the combustion catalyst arranged downstream is made dense, and the combustion catalyst is arranged so that the temperature distribution in the catalytic combustion section becomes uniform. . 2. The fuel reformer according to claim 1, wherein the combustion catalysts are arranged so as to be continuously sparse to dense from the upstream side to the downstream side. 3. The fuel reformer according to claim 1, wherein the combustion catalyst is arranged so as to gradually increase in density from upstream to downstream. 4. A plurality of bypass passages for passing a pre-mixed gas of fuel and air from the upstream side to the downstream side so as not to contact the combustion catalyst, and the combustion catalysts arranged on the middle and downstream sides. 4. The fuel reformer according to claim 1, wherein the premixed gas is supplied to the fuel reformer. 5. The fuel reformer according to claim 4, wherein the bypass flow path has a length from the upstream depending on the arrangement of the combustion catalyst. 6. A fuel reformer has a fuel supply unit adjacent to a catalytic combustion unit, and disperses the fuel in the fuel supply unit from a plurality of fuel supply holes disposed at appropriate positions in the catalytic combustion unit. The fuel reformer according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the fuel reformer is configured to supply the fuel. 7. The fuel reformer includes a liquid fuel heating section, a CO oxidizing section, a heat recovery section, a vaporizing section, from an upper layer to a lower layer.
7. The flat plate lamination type in which the supply section, the combustion section, the reforming section, the combustion section, and the supply section are each formed in a plate shape and are sequentially stacked. Fuel reformer.