Internal combustion engine as a chemical reactor to produce synthesis gas from hydrocarbon feeds
AssigneeResearch Triangle Institute
InventorsJohn Reeves Carpenter, III, David Douglas Barbee, Apoorv Agarwal
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An internal combustion engine is operated at fuel-rich conditions by adjusting one or more operating parameters such as, for example, a throttle, an ignition timing, a load coupled to the engine, a fuel pressure, power to a supercharger, and power to a preheater to maintain a specified engine speed and a temperature of an exhaust gas. Operating the engine under these conditions allows the engine to function as a reformer producing a synthesis gas comprising hydrogen and carbon monoxide.
Claims9
A method for operating an internal combustion engine under fuel-rich conditions to produce an exhaust gas comprising hydrogen and carbon monoxide, comprising:
- maintaining a maintenance operating set of conditions after startup of the engine for a fuel gas, an exhaust backpressure, an intake manifold pressure, an engine speed, an ignition timing, a fuel gas fuel-air equivalence ratio, and a fuel gas inlet temperature;
- increasing the fuel gas inlet temperature while maintaining the fuel gas fuel-air equivalence ratio, and monitoring methane and oxygen content of an engine exhaust gas;
- and
- adjusting two or more of a throttle, an ignition timing, a load coupled to the engine, a fuel pressure, power to a supercharger acting on the fuel gas or part of the fuel gas, and power to a preheater acting on the fuel gas to maintain a fuel-air equivalence ratio of 1.6 to 2.4 so as to produce the exhaust gas comprising hydrogen and carbon monoxide wherein the fuel gas is a natural gas and the fuel gas is converted to the exhaust gas with a fractional conversion of between 0.9 and 1.0.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.