Onboard Syngas production using low temp catalyst

[jakobnev]

Why use petrol or diesel tho? For me it only makes sense to do this if you can do it with something that is both cheap and unusable as motor fuel in it's original state.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

That's a good point.

[Logic]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Most of the info about it is in Portuguese, and still not so much on the internet. But I remember the "reactor" was reported missing in 2011 when the police depot where the Corcel and the Mercedes-Benz truck had been stored for a long time was finally reopened in order to clear it.

Hmmm... that woke the 'conspiracy theorist' in me...

I had another look and found:
https://www.econology.info/Chambrin-...ection-engine/

It's a direct translation that makes little sense.
But scientifically sound, mature, in use industrial processes happen at a
"...temperature range of 100–600 °C, the ratio of C2H5OH to H2O in the range of 1:3–1:6..."
https://link.springer.com/article/10...44-021-01945-6

That's 75% to 91% of your fuel is water...


Here one can see the difference between a liquid fuel burning and the same fuel burning when heated to a gas:
https://youtu.be/FQ81XLRFuFw?t=884

My point being that even if there is little to no Steam Reformation happening in an onboard system;
you are still adding waste energy (value) to your fuel
and
Any un-reacted steam will do what steam does for economy, which is generally good things.

The challenge is getting enough air into the engine when the fuel, as a gas, takes up so much volume.
Some sort of direct gas into cylinder injection system will be required and I doubt current systems will work with, or can be modded to work with, a gas.

[Logic]

Originally Posted by jakobnev

Why use petrol or diesel tho? For me it only makes sense to do this if you can do it with something that is both cheap and unusable as motor fuel in it's original state.

I just posted a link to a blow torch warming up where one can see the difference between a fuel burning as a liquid and as a gas.

The same trick was used on old tractors that started on petrol, then changed over to paraffin once warmed up.

NB: that these engines had a very low compression ratio, so the octane rating of the fuel was of no consequence...
In today's engines one would have to use Diesel ignition.
ie:
Spray in the fuel at the right time to auto ignite, rather than a spark at the right time.

My point being that:
No; you don't have to use petrol or diesel in the steam reformation process.
Any old oil/s etc should work to some useful degree.
Search:
plastic to fuel pyrolysis

But it does seem that methanol works best at the temperatures attainable from waste exhaust heat.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Logic

Hmmm... that woke the 'conspiracy theorist' in me...

There are many conspiracy theories about Jean Pierre Chambrin roaming around. Some say the reactors which "disappeared" in Porto Alegre went to different places, one remaining in Rio Grande do Sul (I just don't remember if Alegrete or Bagé) while the other was reportedly in Arizona or Utah.

Some sort of direct gas into cylinder injection system will be required and I doubt current systems will work with, or can be modded to work with, a gas.

Maybe looking at the system fitted to some CNG-capable engines such as the Volkswagen TGI range for inspiration, even though the higher temperature required to turn a liquid fuel to the vapour phase may be an issue.

[Logic]

Hydrogen-rich gas generation via the exhaust gas-fuel reformer for the marine LNG engine
https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...60319922008254

"...Generally, both in-cylinder fuel reforming [7] and catalytic fuel reforming [8] are practicable methods of onboard hydrogen production in IC engines..."

Here are links 7 and 8 etc:
https://ouci.dntb.gov.ua/en/works/lDQNekL9/

As always Sci-Hub is your friend when looking for full papers.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Due to their sizes, ships are easier to implement such experimental devices. Time will tell if this tech will mature soon enough to fit into a car or motorcycle.

[Logic]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

Due to their sizes, ships are easier to implement such experimental devices. Time will tell if this tech will mature soon enough to fit into a car or motorcycle.

You do recall MIT's plasma fuel reformer?
There they increased the catalyst surface area by getting rid of the catalyst completely and replacing it with 'airborne' electrons and ions...
Cant beat that for surface area!

It worked so well that shell companies were created to buy out the patent holding company and shelve the reformer!
That happened at around the time that someone said: "Why just send fuel through it? Why not add some water/steam too? and did. Try and find THAT paper now.

Edit:
https://library.psfc.mit.edu/catalog...ja014_full.pdf

NB that waste exhaust heat was added before gasses were sent to the MIT reformer.
It simply added the last bit of temperature and that vast 'catalyst surface area'.

NB that the reformer itself was nothing more than giant spark plug of sorts and simple to make...

[Logic]

Plasma assisted fuel reforming for on-board hydrogen
rich gas production
https://minesparis-psl.hal.science/h...26494/document
With lots of pretty pictures showing just how easy it is to turn one on a lathe.

Graphite rods to use as an electrode seem easily available.
And lathes (etc with operators) are likely to be within 10km of most everyone.
There's one 15 feet from me as I type, right next to the milling machine in the garage.

"...The generation of a low current - high voltage arc discharge is obtained using a power supply based on a
resonant converter technology specially developed for this application. A 15,000 V maximum voltage can be
achieved while arc current is limited to 660 mA..."

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by Logic

You do recall MIT's plasma fuel reformer?
There they increased the catalyst surface area by getting rid of the catalyst completely and replacing it with 'airborne' electrons and ions...
Cant beat that for surface area!

I didn't even know about that.