Experimental Investigation of Plasma Assisted Reforming of Propane
Plasmatron fuel converters have been investigated for the conversion of a wide range of fuels. This paper is one of a series of paper investigating the performance of plasmatron reformers. In this paper a systematic experimental investigation is carried out of the reformation of propane in a plasmatron fuel reformer. The effect upon reformation of flow rate distribution and electrical power level are investigated for a given geometry that has been thoroughly studied with a similar gaseous fuel, methane. A limited set of startup experiments with propane are discussed
Production of synthesis gas from propane using thermal water vapor plasma
Abstract In this work, an experimental plasma-chemical reactor equipped with a water vapor plasma torch was used for catalyst-free thermal plasma reforming of propane to produce a synthesis gas. Thermal arc discharge plasma (a mixture of water vapor and argon) was generated at atmospheric pressure. The influences of the H 2 O vapor and C 3 H 8 flow rates on the syngas production, composition, and energy conversion efficiency as well as specific energy requirements were investigated. The best results were obtained under the experimental conditions of H 2 O vapor flow rate of 360 l/min, C 3 H 8 flow rate of 47 l/min, and input plasma torch power of 63 kW. The concentrations of the products were as follows: H 2 68.9%, CO 21%, CO 2 5%, CH 4 0.55%, and C 2 H 2 0.9%. The C 3 H 8 conversion ratio, H 2 yield, H 2 selectivity, and CO selectivity were 100%, 67%, 48.5%, 25.3%, respectively. The highest energy efficiency and the lowest specific energy requirement were 65% and 32.7 kJ/mol, respectively, and the H 2 /CO ratio was 3.28. The modeling of chemical processes, based on the classical thermodynamic equilibrium reactor, was also proposed. The calculated data fit quite well the experimental results.
Comparison of model prediction with measurements of galactic background noise at L-band
The spectral window at L-band (1.413 GHz) is important for passive remote sensing of surface parameters such as soil moisture and sea surface salinity that are needed to understand the hydrological cycle and ocean circulation. Radiation from celestial sources (mostly galactic) is strong in this window, and an accurate accounting of this background radiation is often needed for calibration. This paper presents a comparison of the background radiation predicted by a model developed from modern radio astronomy measurements with measurements made with several modern L-band remote sensing radiometers. The comparison validates the model and illustrates the magnitude of the correction necessary in remote sensing applications.