Client
Hythane
Project Objectives
Wrote the following proposal to the California Energy Commission to build an affordable low emission high efficiency Hythane® Engine to provide a marketable distributed power system.
Introduction to the Project
Currently only low efficiency micro-turbines and expensive fuel cells can meet the 2007 CARB distributed power emissions standards. The goal of this project is to develop a low cost high efficiency natural gas reciprocating engine that can meet the emissions standard. This will be done by enriching the natural gas fuel with hydrogen in a Stoichiometric-EGR-Three Way Catalyst engine. A stoichiometric fuel/air mixture ratio combined with three-way catalyst treatment of the exhaust has been shown to dramatically reduce emissions. However, this technology still cannot meet the emissions standard. Enriching the natural gas fuel with hydrogen and operating slightly fuel rich will introduce excess hydrogen into the catalysts and allow the emissions standard to be met. Hydrogen enrichment also allows the use of more EGR, which is expected to provide an increase in engine thermal efficiency of roughly 10-15%. Hydrogen will be generated using a natural gas auto-thermal reformer and engine waste heat will be used to create steam for the steam-reforming reaction. All additional engine waste heat will be used to heat the building and the total waste heat that is recovered will be credited towards an emissions reduction. An option to reform a renewable energy bio-oil into hydrogen is also presented.
To see the full details and results of the project click this link to download a PDF version.