JP6298612B2 - Methane reforming engine system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an engine system.

  50-60% of the calorific value (input fuel energy) of the supplied fuel is discarded as exhaust heat. Therefore, by recovering exhaust heat and converting it into power or cold heat, the entire system can be made highly efficient and advanced use of input fuel energy can be achieved. When fuel such as natural gas is reformed to hydrogen, carbon monoxide, or carbon dioxide by utilizing exhaust heat, this reaction is endothermic, so it is possible to recover the exhaust heat as the calorific value of the fuel It becomes. That is, exhaust heat recovery can be performed by a chemical reaction. Natural gas and petroleum fuel can undergo the above reforming reaction, but since the reforming temperature is as high as 500 to 700 ° C., high temperature exhaust heat is used. However, in order to continue the high temperature reforming reaction, operation in a steady state is necessary. Further, lean combustion is effective for high-efficiency operation of the engine, but the temperature of exhaust gas is lowered in lean combustion. For output fluctuations and lean combustion, a reforming system with a reduced reaction temperature is required.

  An example of a system that combines a reformer and other heat-utilizing equipment is the system described in Patent Document 1. In this system, hydrogen is generated by steam reforming fuel with a reformer mounted on the exhaust pipe of an engine. Patent Document 1 describes that by using a reformer using a hydrogen separation membrane, a steam reforming reaction can be achieved with high efficiency even when the temperature of exhaust gas is as low as 700 ° C. or lower.

JP 2003-293867 A

  The system described in Patent Document 1 requires a hydrogen separation membrane, and requires many auxiliary devices such as an injector and a pressure adjusting device around the reactor, and has a complicated configuration. As described above, in an engine equipped with a conventional reformer, the reformer and the heat recovery system are provided in the exhaust pipe in the exhaust pipe, so that the number of components of the apparatus is increased. In addition, it was necessary to operate a high-temperature reactor, and countermeasures against high temperatures of engine parts were also required. In addition, since the exhaust heat from the engine is still hot even after passing through the reactor, a large amount of heat is discarded without being used. There is a problem that decreases.

  An object of this invention is to provide the engine system excellent in system efficiency using the exhaust heat of an engine of 500 degrees C or less effectively.

  The methane reforming engine system of the present invention is an engine driven by using a reformed gas containing hydrogen as a fuel, and reforming containing hydrogen by steam reforming of a raw fuel mainly composed of methane using the exhaust heat of the engine. A reformer that generates gas, a cooler that cools the reformed gas discharged from the reformer, a reformed gas supply line that supplies the reformed gas that has passed through the cooler to the intake pipe of the engine, and cooling A water recovery line for recovering the water condensed in the reactor in a water tank, the engine is driven under conditions of lean combustion, and the exhaust gas temperature supplied to the reformer is 400 to 500 ° C. System.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the engine system excellent in system efficiency can be provided using the exhaust heat of an engine effectively.

It is a figure which shows the schematic of the engine system of this invention. The methane reforming engine system block diagram which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of a structure of a reformer. The methane reforming engine system block diagram which concerns on 2nd Embodiment.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of the engine system of the present invention. A reformer 3 is mounted on the exhaust pipe 2 of the engine 1, and fuel 4 and water 5 are supplied to the reformer. Natural gas will be described as an example. Natural gas is multi-component, but methane (CH ₄ ), which is the main component, will be described below as an example. The steam reforming reaction of methane is represented by equation (1).
CH ₄ + H ₂ O ⇒ CO + 3H ₂ -205.7 kJ (1)

  Since Equation (1) is an endothermic reaction, heat of 205.7 kJ is absorbed by reacting 1 mol of methane. That is, the lower heating value (802.7 kJ) of 1 mol of methane is increased by 205.7 kJ due to the steam reforming. That is, the total calorific value of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which is the reformed fuel, is 1.25 times higher than that of methane. By providing this heat absorption amount with the exhaust heat, the exhaust heat is recovered as the amount of heat generated by the fuel and used effectively.

  In the steam reforming reaction of methane represented by the formula (1), a reforming temperature of 650 ° C. or higher is required to ensure a conversion rate of 80%, and a reforming temperature of 550 ° C. or higher is required to ensure a conversion rate of 50%. If the exhaust temperature of the engine is stoichiometric combustion at a medium load or higher, 650 ° C. or higher can be secured, and high efficiency can be achieved by exhaust heat recovery utilizing an endothermic reaction of hydrogen generation. The efficiency of the whole system by exhaust heat recovery in stoichiometric combustion is improved by about 25% in the case of total reforming.

However, with hydrogen-mixed combustion using hydrogen, the lean excess air excess ratio is 8 times larger than gasoline, so that significant lean combustion is possible. As a result, the heat efficiency can be improved by improving the specific heat ratio and reducing the pumping loss at low load, and the lean combustion can be expected to improve the efficiency rather than the stoichiometric combustion. Generally, if 20% of hydrogen is added to methane gas, the efficiency can be improved by 10 to 20%. On the other hand, in the case of lean combustion, the exhaust temperature is low and the reforming rate is about 30 to 40%, so the efficiency improvement as exhaust heat recovery is 10% or less. However, in lean combustion, it is possible to improve efficiency by 30% or more by improving about 20% by mixing hydrogen and taking into consideration the effect of exhaust heat recovery. As described above, the lean combustion with the hydrogen-mixed fuel can greatly contribute to the combustion improvement effect, so that the efficiency of the entire system can be improved by 30% or more, and the efficiency of the entire system can be improved over the stoichiometric combustion.
[First embodiment]
FIG. 2 shows a configuration diagram of an engine system in which the reformer according to the first embodiment is combined.

  A reformer 103 is connected to the exhaust pipe 102 of the spark ignition engine 101. The reformer 103 is supplied with raw fuel from a fuel cylinder 104 and water is supplied from a water tank 110 via a pump 105. At this time, the flow rate of the raw fuel is adjusted by the flow rate regulator 106 and the flow rate of the water by the outlet pressure regulating valve 107 of the pump 105, and the raw fuel and water are mixed and charged into the reformer 103. The input raw fuel and water are reformed by the reformer 103 and converted into reformed gas such as hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, unreacted methane, and steam. Since the reformed gas discharged from the reformer 103 cannot be directly charged into the intake pipe 109 at a high temperature, it is cooled to a safe temperature by the cooler 108. The reformed gas from which the water vapor has been removed by the cooler 108 is introduced into the intake pipe 109 from the reformed gas supply line 113, and the reformed gas premixed with air in the intake pipe 109 is introduced into the engine 101. On the other hand, excess steam that has not been used in the steam reforming of the reformer 103 is condensed in the cooler 108, and the condensed water is recovered in the water tank 110 via the water recovery line 114, and is again subjected to the reforming reaction. Used. In addition, water such as tap water processed through the water purifier 111 is added to the water tank 110 as needed for the shortage of water. At this time, the level sensor 112 attached to the water tank 110 keeps the amount of water in the water tank 110 constant so that necessary water can be stably supplied from the pump 105.

  In a spark ignition engine, the theoretical efficiency increases as the compression ratio and the specific heat ratio of the working fluid increase. In the engine system of the present embodiment, since the reformed gas containing hydrogen is a high-octane fuel having high knocking resistance, an engine with a high compression ratio of 12 or more can be used. Thereby, the thermal efficiency is improved by the combination of the hydrogen mixed gas and the lean combustion, and the thermal efficiency is improved by the high compression ratio.

In the engine system of this embodiment, the number of parts is reduced as much as possible to simplify the system. Therefore, all of the raw fuel and water are charged into the reformer 103, all of the reformed gas of the reformer 103 is charged into the engine 101 from the intake port, and an injector for adjusting the flow rate of fuel and air on the engine side. The parts are not installed. The fuel supply amount to the engine 101 need only be controlled by the raw fuel supply amount to the reformer. The supply amount of the raw fuel is adjusted by a flow rate regulator 106 installed between the fuel cylinder 104 and the reformer 103. The flow rate regulator 106 can be handled by a mechanical type such as a pressure regulator. . Similarly, the water flow rate control may be a mechanical control such as a pressure regulator. Since the supply amount of raw fuel and the output of the engine are linked, a flow regulator such as a mass flow or an injector is used when fine control is required. On the other hand, if the output fluctuation is at another stage setting such as 20%, 50%, 75%, 100%, etc., it is adjusted by providing several pressure regulating valves and increasing / decreasing the introduction line at the other stage. You can also. On the other hand, the flow rate of water is always supplied at a constant flow rate regardless of output fluctuations. Therefore, a single pressure regulator that adjusts the amount of water supply can be used. The reforming of methane requires one mole of water per mole of methane when the product is CO, and _two moles of water per mole of methane when CO ₂ is used. However, in the actual reaction, water is supplied several times as much as methane in consideration of carbonization suppression. In the case of this system, the flow rate of water can be dealt with by setting it to 1.5 mol or more with respect to 1 mol of methane at the time of 100% output. Since the excess water is collected and reused in the water tank, the amount of water used does not increase. Rather, since the exhaust gas temperature is low at low and medium loads, heat can be recovered as heat of vaporization and sensible heat before reforming by supplying a large amount of water, and heat can be efficiently supplied to the catalyst. At this time, since the raw fuel methane is a gas, the amount of heat recovery is small, and the heat supply to the reformer using water is effective. This is also effective at the time of start-up, and the temperature of the reformer rises quickly by recovering heat from water, and hydrogen can be supplied within 3 minutes. Thus, heat recovery efficiency can be improved by supplying a larger amount of water to the reformer than the amount of water required for steam reforming. At this time, the ratio of methane to water is preferably 1: 3, which is larger than the theoretical amount, and in order to further increase the amount of heat supplied to the reformer, a vaporizer is disposed so as to vaporize water at the latter stage of the reactor. If this is done, the reaction efficiency can be increased by excessively supplying water, increasing the amount of heat supplied to the reformer, and reducing the partial pressure of methane. However, when the ratio of methane to water is 1: 8 or more, the heat required for vaporization of water becomes too large and it becomes difficult for the catalyst to reach a predetermined reaction temperature. Up to 8 can be supplied.

  There is no need to provide a throttle for adjusting the air flow rate, but it is equipped if it is difficult to ignite at the start. In addition, it is desirable to install an exhaust gas purification catalyst directly under the manifold for purifying exhaust gas so as to comply with exhaust gas regulations.

  As raw fuel stored in the fuel cylinder 104, in addition to methane gas, city gas or LNG may be used, and gas mainly composed of methane such as biogas, methane hydrate jet gas, and jet gas from hot springs, etc. If you can, you can use it. However, when the sulfur component is contained in the gas, a desulfurization device is provided on at least one of the front and rear sides of the flow controller 106. When water-containing methane fuel containing a large amount of water vapor such as biogas, methane hydrate, and spouted methane is used, replenishment of water to the water tank 110 becomes unnecessary, and auxiliary equipment for water replenishment such as the water purifier 111 is omitted. And a simpler configuration.

  For example, tap water can be used as the water injected into the water tank 110. In addition to tap water, industrial water, rivers, or seawater desalted may be used. At this time, it is preferable to use the water purifier 111 after removing chlorine and inorganic substances. Of course, as described above, when water-containing methane fuel is used, it is not necessary to inject water separately.

  Next, the reformer will be described. As shown in FIG. 3A, the reformer includes a plurality of reaction cells 31 whose outer shape has a columnar shape, and a cylindrical first casing 32 that houses the plurality of reaction cells 31. . Natural gas and water vapor flow through each reaction cell 31, and high-temperature exhaust gas flows outside the reaction cell 31 and through the first casing 32.

  The first casing 32 and the second casing 34 to be described later are made of metal (for example, SUS) so as to have high thermal conductivity. In addition, the shape of the 1st casing 32 and the 2nd casing 34 is not limited to a cylindrical shape, For example, a square cylinder shape and a polygonal cylinder shape may be sufficient.

  As shown in FIG. 3B, the reaction cell 31 includes a plurality of stacked reaction sheets 33 and a second casing 34 that accommodates the plurality of reaction sheets 33.

  As shown in FIG. 3C, each reaction sheet 33 includes a base metal foil 35, a porous layer 36 formed on each surface of the metal foil 35, and a catalyst 37 supported on the porous layer 36. And. That is, each reaction sheet 33 has a three-layer structure in which a porous layer 36 carrying a catalyst 37, a metal foil 35, and a porous layer 36 carrying a catalyst 37 are laminated in this order.

  A gap through which natural gas, water vapor, generated hydrogen, and carbon monoxide can flow is formed between the reaction sheets 33 adjacent in the thickness direction.

  Further, since the reaction sheet 33 is in the form of a sheet, its heat capacity is small, heat is quickly conducted through the reaction sheet 33, and the temperature of the catalyst 37 is quickly raised to a temperature at which the catalyst function is exhibited well. Thereby, the efficiency of the decomposition reaction which decomposes | disassembles natural gas and water vapor | steam into hydrogen and carbon monoxide is high.

  Further, each reaction sheet 33 is formed with a plurality of through holes 33a. As a result, the heat of the exhaust gas is conducted well in the thickness direction, and natural gas, water vapor, generated hydrogen and carbon monoxide are also flowed well in the thickness direction.

  The metal foil 35 is made of, for example, an aluminum foil and has a thickness of about 50 to 200 μm.

  However, the metal foil 35 may not be provided, or instead of the metal foil 35, a porous layer serving as a base may be provided, and the entire reaction sheet 33 may have a porous structure.

  The porous layer 36 is a layer for supporting the catalyst 37 and has a plurality of pores through which natural gas, water vapor, generated hydrogen and carbon monoxide can flow. Such a porous layer 36 is made of an oxide mainly composed of alumina, for example.

  The catalyst 37 is a catalyst for decomposing natural gas and water vapor to generate hydrogen and carbon monoxide (see formula (1)). Such a catalyst 37 is composed of, for example, at least one selected from nickel, palladium, rhodium, iridium, ruthenium, molybdenum, rhenium, tungsten, vanadium, osmium, chromium, cobalt, iron and the like mainly composed of platinum. The

  Next, an example and the effect of the operating state of the engine system applied in the first embodiment will be described. This system recovers heat from engine exhaust gas and improves system efficiency. An engine generally has two types of waste heat, exhaust gas heat and cooling water heat. The exhaust gas heat has a high temperature, and in the case of a spark ignition engine, exhaust gas heat as high as 500 to 1000 ° C. is discharged. The exhaust gas temperature is high during stoichiometric operation and low during lean operation. For this reason, the stoichiometric operation is designed with sufficient consideration for member maintenance such as measures against high temperatures. On the other hand, in the lean operation, the exhaust gas temperature becomes low, so the load on the parts and the like becomes low, but it becomes a severe temperature range for reforming. In the lean operation, the exhaust gas temperature is 500 to 700 ° C. at the engine outlet, and becomes lower at the reformer inlet. Therefore, the conversion rate is 30 to 40% for reforming methane. However, sufficient efficiency improvement can be expected by combining the efficiency improvement in lean operation and the effect of exhaust heat recovery as described above.

  An example of operation will be described below. A fuel mainly composed of methane, which is a raw fuel, is charged into the reformer 103, and gas emitted from the reformer 103 is introduced from an intake pipe 109 of the engine to start the engine. At this time, since the reformer 103 is at room temperature, the reforming reaction does not proceed. Therefore, the raw fuel gas is ignited by the engine as it is. After the ignition of the engine, the reformer 103 is heated by the high-temperature exhaust gas, and the temperature of the reformer 103 gradually starts to rise. At this time, the water pump is activated to introduce water into the reformer 103. As water is introduced, the temperature of the reformer 103 rapidly rises, and hydrogen gas and the like are generated by the reforming reaction when the temperature exceeds 400 ° C. At this stage, the supply amount of the raw fuel is increased to a gas amount necessary for a predetermined operation load to increase the hydrogen generation amount. Here, the amount of raw fuel supplied to the reformer 103 is adjusted so as to achieve lean combustion. During steady operation of the engine, the exhaust gas temperature is about 500 ° C., about 450 ° C. at the reformer inlet, and about 430 ° C. at the outlet. In this state, the reforming rate becomes 30 to 40%, and the operation state by the reformed gas can be established. The gas composition at this time is 20 to 30% of hydrogen in terms of combustion heat ratio, which can improve engine efficiency. The time taken so far is about 5 minutes. This is achieved by reducing the heat capacity as much as possible, such as reducing the heat exchange type reformer, the catalyst used for it, and peripheral accessories, and efficiently using the heat of the exhaust gas for the chemical reaction. Is done. Furthermore, by supplying an excessive amount of water, the heat transfer rate of the exhaust gas is also improved, thereby preventing a decrease in the reaction rate from becoming a rate-limiting rate. Although it is possible to reduce the temperature even in reforming reaction systems using hydrogen separation membranes, the heat of exhaust gas increases due to the increase in the heat capacity of peripheral auxiliary equipment associated with hydrogen separation membranes and separation systems in reaction with actual fluid As a result, the utilization for an actual chemical reaction is reduced, and the reaction rate is also limited by heat due to a decrease in heat transfer rate due to an increase in parts.

  The fuel supplied to the engine is a mixed gas consisting mainly of reformed gas and unreacted methane, but it uses a high compression ratio engine and is operated at a high air-fuel ratio (lean combustion) to produce hydrogen combustion characteristics. By using this to make gas burn uniformly, it can be burned with high efficiency.

As described above, in an engine system that recovers exhaust heat with a reformer that performs a steam reforming reaction of methane, engine efficiency is improved and improved by the effects of mixed hydrogen combustion, lean combustion, and high compression ratio combustion. The efficiency improvement by exhaust heat recovery of quality reaction can realize 30% efficiency improvement as a whole system.
[Second Embodiment]
FIG. 4 shows a configuration diagram of an engine system according to the second embodiment. The difference from FIG. 2 is that the engine is a diesel engine, which is equipped with a pump and an injector for diesel fuel such as light oil or heavy oil. In the diesel engine 401, since the reformed gas alone does not ignite, it is necessary to simultaneously supply diesel fuel such as light oil or heavy oil as an igniting agent to ignite, and to propagate the flame to the reformed gas in the cylinder to operate the engine. is there. Therefore, a booster pump 403 that boosts the diesel fuel in the diesel fuel tank 402 and an injector 404 that directly injects the diesel fuel into the engine 401 are provided. Other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment shown in FIG.

  As in the first embodiment, the engine system according to the present embodiment simplifies the system by reducing the number of parts as much as possible. Therefore, all the fuel and water are charged into the reformer, all the fuel from the reformer is charged into the engine through the intake port, and parts such as an injector for adjusting the flow rate of fuel and air are not mounted on the engine side.

  As a diesel engine used in the engine system of this embodiment, it is desirable to use a common rail type diesel engine in consideration of exhaust gas regulations if possible. The diesel engine 401 is provided with a liquid fuel supply line for injecting diesel fuel such as light oil into the cylinder and a reformed gas supply line 113 for introducing the reformed gas from the intake pipe 109. Even if the diesel fuel is used, the reformed gas is the main fuel because the diesel fuel is used as an igniting agent except during start-up. In order to purify the exhaust gas, it is desirable to install an exhaust gas purification catalyst directly under the manifold so as to comply with exhaust gas regulations.

  Next, an example and an effect of the operating state of the engine system applied in the second embodiment will be described. In the case of a diesel engine, exhaust gas heat of 450 to 700 ° C. is discharged. The diesel engine is originally lean operation, and the exhaust gas temperature is 400 to 600 ° C. at the engine outlet, and becomes lower at the reformer inlet. Therefore, the conversion rate is in the region of 20 to 40% for reforming methane. However, as in the case of the spark ignition type, sufficient efficiency improvement can be expected by combining the high efficiency combustion of diesel and the effect of exhaust heat recovery.

An example of operation will be described below. Gas oil, which is diesel fuel, is boosted by a booster pump 403 and supplied by direct injection from an injector 404 to start the engine 401. At this time, the raw fuel gas is not supplied to the reformer 103. This is because even if the raw fuel gas is supplied to the reformer 103, the temperature of the reformer 103 is low and the reforming reaction does not proceed. After the ignition of the engine, the reformer 103 is heated by the high-temperature exhaust gas, and the temperature of the reformer 103 gradually starts to rise.
At this time, the raw fuel methane gas is supplied to the reformer 103 and the water pump is activated to introduce water into the reformer 103. As water is introduced, the temperature of the reformer 103 rapidly rises, and hydrogen gas and the like are generated when the temperature exceeds 400 ° C. At this stage, the supply amount of raw fuel is increased to a gas amount required for a predetermined operation load, and the reaction is sufficiently performed, so that the reforming rate is 20 ° C. at 450 ° C. at the reformer inlet and 430 ° C. at the outlet. The operating state can be established with the addition of 5 to 10% of light oil mainly composed of the reformed gas. The reactivity and effect of the reformed gas are the same as in the first embodiment.

  In the engine system of this embodiment, efficiency improvement of about 8% can be achieved by the reforming reaction together with high-efficiency combustion of diesel, and high-efficiency operation of 50% or more can be realized as a whole system.

  The engine system of the present invention can be applied to, for example, an engine generator for a distributed power source or a gas engine of a gas heat pump.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Engine, 2 ... Exhaust pipe, 3 ... Reformer, 4 ... Fuel, 5 ... Water, 6 ... Intake pipe, 101 ... Engine, 102 ... Exhaust pipe, 103 ... reformer, 104 ... fuel cylinder, 105 ... pump, 106 ... flow rate regulator, 107 ... pressure regulating valve, 108 ... cooler, 109 ... Intake pipe, 110 ... water tank, 111 ... water purifier, 112 ... level sensor, 113 ... reformed gas supply line, 114 ... water recovery line, 31 ... reaction cell, 32 ... 1st casing, 33 ... Reaction sheet, 33a ... Through-hole, 34 ... 2nd casing, 35 ... Metal foil, 36 ... Porous layer, 37 ... Catalyst 401 ... Engine, 402 ... Diesel fuel tank, 403 ... Booster pump, 404 ... injector

Claims (10)

An engine system including an engine that drives a reformed gas containing hydrogen as fuel,
A reformer for generating reformed gas containing hydrogen by steam reforming of raw fuel mainly composed of methane using exhaust heat of the engine;
A cooler for cooling the reformed gas discharged from the reformer;
A reformed gas supply line for supplying the reformed gas that has passed through the cooler to the intake pipe of the engine;
A water recovery line for recovering water condensed in the cooler in a water tank;
With
The amount of water supplied from the water tank to the reformer is greater than the amount of water required for the steam reforming reaction,
The engine system is driven under conditions of lean combustion, and an exhaust gas temperature supplied to the reformer is 400 to 500 ° C. An engine system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the supply amount of the water supplied to the reformer, rather multi than the amount of water necessary for the steam reforming reaction, the reformer plurality of reaction sheets are stacked And the reaction sheet is composed of a porous layer carrying a catalyst and an aluminum foil.   The engine system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a compression ratio of the engine is 12 or more.   The engine system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the engine is driven from start to stop with a constant amount of water supplied to the reformer.   The engine system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a molar ratio of methane to water supplied to the reformer is in a range of 1: 3 to 1: 8. An engine system as claimed in claim 1, the engine system, characterized in that the engine is driven at the reforming gas supplied from the reformed gas supply line. The engine system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein control of a fuel supply amount of fuel supplied to the engine is performed only by control of a supply amount of raw fuel supplied to the reformer. And engine system.   The engine system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the raw fuel is a hydrous methane fuel containing water vapor.   2. The engine system according to claim 1, wherein the engine is a diesel engine, and comprises means for supplying diesel fuel to the engine.   The engine system according to claim 9, wherein the diesel fuel is supplied to the engine as an ignition agent together with the reformed gas during steady operation of the engine.