JP2007231150A - Fuel reforming apparatus and method - Google Patents

Abstract

A reformed gas is obtained while separating an alcohol and a hydrocarbon fuel from an alcohol-containing fuel in which an alcohol component is partially mixed in a hydrocarbon fuel with a very simple and compact system.
In a mixing tank 5, water supplied from a reservoir tank 1 by a water pump 2 and alcohol-containing fuel in which an alcohol component is partially mixed in a hydrocarbon fuel supplied from a fuel tank 3 by a fuel pump 4 are contained. By mixing and agitating, the hydrocarbon fuel is produced in the mixing tank upper part 5a and the mixed fluid of alcohol and water is separated into the mixing tank lower part 5b, and the hydrocarbon fuel is taken out by the hydrocarbon fuel tube 6. At the same time, the mixed fluid is taken out from the mixed fluid tube 7 and supplied to the reformer 8. The mixed fluid is reformed by the steam method in the reformer 8 to obtain a reformed gas. store.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for obtaining a reformed gas while separating an alcohol and a hydrocarbon fuel from an alcohol-containing fuel in which an alcohol component is partially mixed in a hydrocarbon fuel.

Patent Document 1 discloses a method of heating an alcohol-containing fuel and separating it into alcohol and gasoline using distillation characteristics as a method of separating the alcohol-containing fuel.
JP 58-35258 A

However, the method of Patent Document 1 requires a distillation apparatus having a heating means for separating the fuel, which not only increases the cost but also increases the size. there were.
The present invention has been made by paying attention to such conventional problems, and obtains reformed gas while separating alcohol and hydrocarbon fuel from alcohol-containing fuel while having a very simple and compact size. It is an object of the present invention to provide a fuel reforming apparatus and method that can perform such a process.

For this reason, the present invention
Water supply means for supplying water;
Alcohol-containing fuel supply means for supplying an alcohol-containing fuel partially mixed with an alcohol component to a hydrocarbon-based fuel other than alcohol;
Two-type fuel generation means for generating a mixed fluid composed of water and alcohol and the hydrocarbon fuel by supplying water from the water supply means to the alcohol-containing fuel supplied from the alcohol-containing fuel supply means ,
A two-type fuel separating means for separating the mixed fluid produced by the two-type fuel producing means and the hydrocarbon fuel;
Reforming means for reforming the mixed fluid separated by the two-type fuel separation means to generate a reformed gas;
It was configured with.

  According to the present invention, the alcohol-containing fuel and water are mixed to separate the mixed fluid composed of water and alcohol and the hydrocarbon fuel such as gasoline, and then the mixed fluid is reformed. A reformed gas containing hydrogen can be obtained at a very low temperature and with high efficiency.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
In FIG. 1 showing the entire system according to the embodiment of the present invention, water is stored in a reservoir tank 1, and a water pump 2 that pumps water is attached to the lower end of the reservoir tank 1.
The reservoir tank 1 and the water pump 2 constitute water supply means.

The fuel tank 3 stores an alcohol-containing fuel in which an alcohol component is partially mixed with a hydrocarbon fuel, and a fuel pump 4 for pumping the alcohol-containing fuel is attached to the lower end of the fuel tank 3. ing.
Here, alcohol is generally included in the hydrocarbon fuel, but the hydrocarbon fuel used in the present invention (embodiment) refers to a hydrocarbon fuel other than alcohol. As the alcohol, for example, ethanol can be used. In particular, sufficient energy can be generated by modification using bioethanol made from sugarcane or the like.

The fuel tank 3 and the fuel pump 4 constitute alcohol-containing fuel supply means.
The mixing tank 5 mixes the water supplied from the water pump 2 and the alcohol-containing fuel supplied from the fuel pump 4, and a new mixed fluid of alcohol and water, and hydrocarbon fuel other than alcohol, It is generated while being separated.

This mixing / separation generating action will be described in detail.
The water and alcohol-containing fuel supplied to the mixing tank 5 are stirred in the mixing tank 5. Here, since the affinity between alcohol and water is higher than the affinity between alcohol and hydrocarbon fuel, alcohol and water stick together to produce a mixed fluid of alcohol and water. Separated from the remaining hydrocarbon fuel (gasoline etc.) in the fuel.

At this time, the water supplied to the mixing tank 5 may be 5% or less based on the amount of hydrocarbon fuel in the alcohol supplied to the mixing tank 5. By adding about 5%, water and alcohol will adhere sufficiently.
Here, since the specific gravity of the mixed fluid is larger than the specific gravity of the hydrocarbon-based fuel, if left after stirring and mixing, the hydrocarbon-based fuel is present in the mixing tank upper portion 5a, which is relatively above the mixing tank 5, due to the influence of gravity. The mixed fluid is separated into the mixing tank lower part 5b which is relatively lower.

Thus, since the hydrocarbon fuel and the mixed fluid are separated above and below the mixing tank 5, the hydrocarbon fuel is taken out from the hydrocarbon fuel tube 6 connected to the relatively upper part of the mixing tank 5. On the other hand, the mixed fluid is taken out from the mixed fluid tube 7 connected to the lower part of the mixing tank 5.
It is also possible to easily separate the hydrocarbon-based fuel and the mixed fluid by using centrifugal force by rotating the container of the mixing tank 5 or passing through the flow path for rotating the liquid in the mixing tank 5. .

The mixing tank 5 which produces | generates the said mixed fluid of water and alcohol, and a hydrocarbon fuel isolate | separates comprises a 2 type fuel production | generation means, this mixing tank 5, the hydrocarbon fuel tube 6, and mixed fluid The tube 7 constitutes a two-type fuel separation means.
The mixed fuel taken out from the mixed fluid tube 7 is sent to a reformer 8 as reforming means.

The reformer 8 is a device that can reform a mixed fluid into a reformed gas by a steam reforming method, and the mixed fluid is reformed into a reformed gas.
Since the steam reforming method is an endothermic reaction, it is established by applying heat from the outside.
The reformed gas obtained here is, for example, a mixed fuel of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and lower hydrocarbons. These reformed gases are once pressurized and sent to the reformed gas accumulating chamber 9. Thereby, hydrocarbon fuel and reformed gas can be obtained, respectively.

In this embodiment, the water supply means is constituted by the reservoir tank 1 that stores water and the water pump 2 that pumps the water in the reservoir tank 1, so that water can be supplied stably.
In the present embodiment, the alcohol-containing fuel supply means is composed of the fuel tank 3 that stores the alcohol-containing fuel and the fuel pump 4 that pumps the alcohol-containing fuel in the fuel tank 3. The contained fuel can be supplied.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the two-type fuel generating means is a mixing tank 5 that mixes water supplied from the reservoir tank 1 by the water pump 2 and alcohol-containing fuel supplied from the fuel tank 3 by the fuel pump 4. Therefore, by mixing and stirring the water and the alcohol-containing fuel, the hydrocarbon-based fuel that remains with the high affinity water and alcohol sticking together and producing the mixed fluid is separated, and the mixed fluid and the hydrocarbon are separated. The fuel can be produced while being separated into two types of fuels, ie, a system fuel.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the two-type fuel separation means includes a mixing tank 5, a hydrocarbon fuel tube 6 for taking out hydrocarbon fuel from a relatively upper part of the mixing tank 5, and a relatively lower part of the mixing tank 5. Since the mixed fluid tube 7 is configured to take out the mixed fluid, a hydrocarbon fuel having a relatively small specific gravity is mixed in the mixing tank 5 after mixing and stirring in the upper part of the mixing tank 5 in the mixing tank 5. Since the fluid is separated into the lower portion of the mixing tank 5, each of the fuels separated with high purity can be efficiently taken out by the hydrocarbon fuel tube 6 and the mixed fluid tube 7 arranged above and below, respectively.

In this embodiment, since the reformer 8 reforms the mixed fluid by the steam reforming method, the reformed gas is composed of a mixed fuel such as hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and lower hydrocarbon by a simple method. Can be modified. Further, since the steam reforming method is an endothermic reaction, there is no need to worry about the influence of the heat generation on the apparatus or the like.
In the present embodiment, the ratio of the water supplied to the mixing tank 5 and the alcohol-containing fuel is set such that the amount of water is 5% or less with respect to the amount of the alcohol-containing fuel. By reducing the energy density of the fuel, it is possible to prevent the energy density of the fuel from being lowered by making it the minimum amount necessary for separating the hydrocarbon fuel. Further, since the amount of water to be stored can be suppressed, the size of the reservoir tank 1 can be reduced.

  In addition, as exemplified in the present embodiment, if the configuration containing bioethanol is used as the alcohol-containing fuel, the biofuel (used for suppressing global warming) can be reformed. Even a biofuel composed of hydrocarbon fuel and bioethanol can generate sufficient energy.

The block diagram which shows the whole system of embodiment which concerns on this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Reservoir tank 2 Water pump 3 Fuel tank 4 Fuel pump 5 Mixing tank 5a Mixing tank upper part 5b Mixing tank lower part 6 Hydrocarbon fuel tube 7 Mixing fluid tube 8 Reformer 9 Reformed gas pressure storage chamber

Claims (9)

Water supply means for supplying water;
Alcohol-containing fuel supply means for supplying an alcohol-containing fuel partially mixed with an alcohol component to a hydrocarbon-based fuel other than alcohol;
Two-type fuel generation means for generating a mixed fluid composed of water and alcohol and the hydrocarbon fuel by supplying water from the water supply means to the alcohol-containing fuel supplied from the alcohol-containing fuel supply means ,
A two-type fuel separating means for separating the mixed fluid produced by the two-type fuel producing means and the hydrocarbon fuel;
Reforming means for reforming the mixed fluid separated by the two-type fuel separation means to generate a reformed gas;
A fuel reformer comprising: a fuel reformer.   2. The fuel reformer according to claim 1, wherein the water supply unit includes a reservoir tank that stores the water and a water pump that pumps water in the reservoir tank.   The said alcohol containing fuel supply means is comprised by the fuel tank which stores alcohol containing fuel, and the fuel pump which pumps the alcohol containing fuel in this fuel tank, The Claim 1 or Claim 2 characterized by the above-mentioned. Fuel reformer.   The two-type fuel generating means is formed by mixing the water supplied from the water supply means and the alcohol-containing fuel supplied from the alcohol-containing fuel supply means while separating the mixed fluid and the hydrocarbon fuel. The fuel reformer according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the fuel reformer is configured by a mixing tank.   The two-type fuel separation means takes out the hydrocarbon-based fuel from the mixing tank and a relatively upper part of the mixing tank, and takes out the mixed fluid from a relatively lower part, thereby removing the mixed fluid and the hydrocarbon-based fuel. The fuel reformer according to claim 4, comprising: a separating unit.   6. The fuel reforming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reforming unit reforms the mixed fluid by a steam reforming method.   The ratio of the water and the alcohol-containing fuel supplied to the two-type fuel generating means is such that the amount of water is 5% or less with respect to the amount of the alcohol-containing fuel. 6. The fuel reformer according to any one of 6 above.   The fuel reformer according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the alcohol-containing fuel contains bioethanol. Alcohol components are partially mixed into hydrocarbon fuels other than alcohol to produce alcohol-containing fuel,
Supplying water to the alcohol-containing fuel to produce a mixed fluid composed of water and alcohol, and the hydrocarbon fuel;
Separating the mixed fluid and the hydrocarbon fuel;
A fuel reforming method comprising reforming the mixed fluid to generate a reformed gas.

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