Onboard Syngas production using low temp catalyst
 

Idea worth pursuing??
Exhaust temperature, in the manifold close to the head is 1200 F - 649 C.
Low temp Syngas catalysts start working at 1022 F - 550 C.
That's 100C lower than EGT..!
And the Linked study is from 2014..

Syngas: Hydrocarbon + Steam = CO (burns) and H2

Catalysts tested here are nickel-based, or noble metal-based or bimetallic catalysts.
https://sci-hub.se/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2013.12.001
(a good place to find paywalled papers btw.
Watch out for Sci Hubs that 'cant find the paper', but want you to install an app..!)

Now if one were to:

• Pyrolyse a bit of petrol or diesel using waste exhaust heat, further down the exhaust.
• Mix it with steam made the same way.
• And give the mix a last baking in a catalyst filled enclosure around the exhaust manifold bolted to the head..???

Cooling the syngas with an air to air intercooler would likely be advisable.

Pressures seem doable..ish for usable amounts of H2 + pyrolysed fuel + steam..?
Some steam and pyrolysed fuel wont go amiss in an engine while warming up etc..

Sure you're still using fuel, but you are adding H2 and O from water too, using waste heat...

Why aren't car manufacturers looking at this?

I'll research this more as time allows bit wanted to get it out there.

Most likely regulations. On a sidenote, both Ford and GM produced wood gas generators during WWII, and AFAIK they would operate in a way similar to what you're envisioning.

Hmmm... well Ruck the Fegulations I say! :)

IIRC Wood Gas is mostly red hot C + H20 (steam) = CO + H2
(I'd have to look it all up again)

Syngas: lower temp HC + H2O (+ heat and catalyst like Nickel) = CO + H2
(Methanes and methanols etc seem to work best at achievable temperatures)

REFORMING OF ETHANOL WITH EXHAUST HEAT AT AUTOMOTIVE SCALE
Pics and basically a 'how to' from a quick look.
https://sci-hub.hkvisa.net/10.1021/ef4011274

(Sci-Hub gives you paywalled papers for free.
WATCH OUT for 'Sci-Hubs that 'cant find' the paper but irge you to intall an app or extension)

Not yet on Sci-Hub:
Synthesis gas as a fuel for internal combustion engines in transportation
https://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...041?via%3Dihub

Reforming ethanol? There was a French named Jean Pierre Chambrin who tested it in my hometown, but AFAIK it failed.

On a car?
Because Steam Reformation with a HC is a long used industrial process.

Just because Jean Pierre Chambrin failed doesn't mean everybody will. :)
But a catalyst that works at attainable pressures and temperatures and gas enough surface area to be effective is a challenge.

I would say that this is something vehicle manufacturers should be looking into due to the cost of experimentation.
But not something to be written off as too complex by backyard tinkers...

It was tested in a Brazilian Ford derivative of the Renault 12, and in a Mercedes-Benz truck with the OM-352 engine too.

I tried searching the name; no luck.
Any links?

The general reason companies don't pursue something is that it isn't economically viable. When we look at improving fuel economy we have a list of hundreds of options - that then refine those down to the cheapest way to get the desired improvement in fuel economy. Usually that is dozens of things with tiny improvements. Lots of things are technically possible but not economically viable.

You are talking about adding a bunch of equipment to a car to modestly boost fuel economy by adding some "free" H2. That equipment costs money, adds weight (which works against fuel economy) and makes packaging more difficult. It also means the customer has to add two fuels to their vehicle.

Looking at your suggested fuels: Methane = natural gas = low energy density and requires expensive pressure vessels on the vehicle that need to be periodically inspected and certified. Methanol = highly toxic, burns with a clear invisible flame.

Of course we also have to meet environmental regulations. We can't just say "ruck it".

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.