Experimental Study on Gasoline Reforming Assisted by Nonthermal Arc Discharge

On-board hydrogen production out of hydrocarbons reforming for fuel cells feed-in is subject to problems when using traditional catalytic reformers. High device weight, a relatively long transient time, and catalyst poisoning make their integration in a vehicle complex. In response to these challenges, reforming processes based on cold plasma have been implemented over recent years. This paper presents a nonthermal arc discharge system based on a high voltage, low current power source (about 2 kV and 0.5 A), designed to convert gasoline into hydrogen rich gas under autothermal or partial oxidation conditions for car applications.