Publication

Dynamic modeling and controllability analysis of an ethanol reformer for fuel cell application

Journal Article (2010)

Journal

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

Pages

9768-9775

Volume

35

Number

18

Doc link

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2009.09.064

File

Download the digital copy of the doc pdf document

Abstract

This work presents a controllability analysis of a low temperature ethanol reformer based on a cobalt catalyst for fuel cell application. The study is based on a nonlinear dynamic model of a reformer which operates in three separate stages: ethanol dehydrogenation to acetaldehyde and hydrogen, acetaldehyde steam reforming, and water gas shift reaction. The controllability analysis is focused on the rapid dynamics due to mass balances and is based on a linearization of the complex non-linear model of the reformer. RGA, CN and MRI analysis tools are applied to the linear model suggesting that a good performance can be obtained with decentralized control for frequencies up to 0.1 rad/s.

Categories

control system analysis, power generation control, power system control.

Author keywords

hydrogen production, ethanol steam reforming, sensitivity analysis, controllability analysis

Scientific reference

V. García, E. López, M. Serra, J. Llorca and J. Riera. Dynamic modeling and controllability analysis of an ethanol reformer for fuel cell application. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 35(18): 9768-9775, 2010.