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Liquefied Petroleum Gas For LP Gas Fuel Cell, Method of Desulfurizing the Same and Fuel System

a technology of petroleum gas and fuel cell, which is applied in the direction of gaseous fuel, hydrocarbon oil treatment products, electrochemical generators, etc., can solve the problems of difficulty in complete desulfurization, increased sulfur content of supplied gas, and care for storage and loading of vehicles, so as to achieve the effect of effective desulfurizing agent and enhance desulfurization performan

Inactive Publication Date: 2009-06-18
IDEMITSU KOSAN CO LTD
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention relates to a method for desulfurizing liquefied petroleum gas fuel for fuel cell systems using a hydrogen-containing gas produced through reforming of the liquefied petroleum gas. The desulfurization method involves using a desulfurizing agent that can effectively remove sulfur compounds from the liquefied petroleum gas, even at low temperatures. The invention also provides a method for accurately determining the amount of liquefied petroleum gas in response to the compositional change of the fuel, and a desulfurizing agent that can effectively remove carbonyl sulfide from the liquefied petroleum gas. The technical effects of the invention include improved performance and efficiency of fuel cell systems using liquefied petroleum gas fuel, as well as reduced damage to the fuel cell system caused by sulfur compounds in the liquefied petroleum gas.

Problems solved by technology

However, since hydrogen is in the gas form at ambient temperature, care must be taken for storage and loading to vehicles.
In contrast, when spontaneous vaporization supply is employed, the sulfur content of the supplied gas increases with the consumption of liquefied petroleum gas contained in a compressed-gas cylinder.
Therefore, difficulty is encountered in performing complete desulfurization.
As a result, use of such gas results in a decrease in amount of generated hydrogen, and the amount of gas fed to a fuel cell must be increased through a certain operation in order to gain required electric power from the fuel cell.
Hitherto, however, there has never been realized means for accurately determining the amount of supplied liquefied petroleum gas in response to the compositional change of the liquefied petroleum gas.
In the case where a sulfur compound in a very small amount is leaked downstream from a desulfurizer, a reforming catalyst employed in a reformer provided on the downstream side of the desulfurizer is damaged, thereby failing to attain continuous supply of a predetermined amount of hydrogen to a fuel cell.
The replacement of expensive reformer is also disadvantageous from an industrial viewpoint.
However, the zeolite-based desulfurizing agent cannot satisfactorily remove carbonyl sulfide from liquefied petroleum gas.
However, Patent Documents 3 and 4 never disclose the effect, on desulfurization performance, of a liquefied petroleum gas fuel having a total sulfur content, a specific sulfur compound content in terms of sulfur content, a methanol content, and a water content, of the liquefied petroleum gas fuel, each being equal to or less than a specific value.

Method used

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  • Liquefied Petroleum Gas For LP Gas Fuel Cell, Method of Desulfurizing the Same and Fuel System
  • Liquefied Petroleum Gas For LP Gas Fuel Cell, Method of Desulfurizing the Same and Fuel System

Examples

Experimental program
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Effect test

example 1

[0102]Liquefied petroleum gas fuel 1 having properties shown in Table 1 hereinbelow was supplied through spontaneous vaporization to a 1-kW polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) system employing LP gas. The system includes a desulfurizer, a reformer, a fuel cell stack, an inverter, etc. The desulfurizer is formed of a stainless steel container (diameter: 4 cm) in which desulfurizing agent A (300 mL) and desulfurizing agent B (150 mL) are charged. In the reformer, a commercial reforming catalyst (600 mL), a commercial shift catalyst (1 L), and a commercial selective oxidation catalyst (0.25 L) are charged. The liquefied petroleum gas fuel 1 was supplied to a fuel cell system, while the flow rate of liquefied petroleum gas fuel 1 was adjusted to 1.8 L / min by means of a thermal mass-flow controller (product of Ohkura Riken Inc.). Desulfurization was performed at ambient temperature and pressure. The reformer was operated at a reformer outlet temperature and pressure of 700° C. and 0.03 ...

example 2

[0103]The procedure of Example 1 was repeated, except that liquefied petroleum gas fuel 2 shown in Table 1 was employed. When the amount of used liquefied petroleum gas fuel 2 reached 0.5 mass % and 98 mass %, the cell output voltage was determined at a current of 33.3 A. The attained voltages were 39.0 V and 38.3 V, respectively.

example 3

[0105]Desulfurizing agent A (2 mL) was charged in an upstream portion of a desulfurizer (stainless steel, inner diameter: 10 mm), and desulfurizing agent B (2 mL) was charged in a downstream portion of the desulfurizer. Liquefied petroleum gas fuel 1 shown in Table 1 was supplied at 20 L / h to the desulfurizer maintained at 20° C. An automatic sampling port was provided at the outlet of the desulfurizer, and the total sulfur content was determined through gas chromatography by means of a sulfur chemiluminescence detector (SCD). The determination was performed under the following conditions: separation column: DB-1; path: 60 m; membrane thickness: 5 μm; ID: 0.32 mm; split ratio: 1:5; carrier gas: helium; flow rate: 23 mL / min; and temperature profile: 40° C. for 4 min, to 200° C. at 10° C. / min, and 200° C. for 15 min. As a result, after 160 hours from the start of the operation, the total sulfur content at the outlet of the desulfurizer reached 0.05 ppm by mass.

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Abstract

The invention provides a liquefied petroleum gas fuel for LP gas fuel cells for being fed to a fuel cell system through spontaneous vaporization, which fuel has a C2 hydrocarbon compound content of 3 vol. % or less, a C4 hydrocarbon compound content of 3 vol. % or less, a total sulfur content of 10 ppm by mass or less, a carbonyl sulfide content in terms of sulfur content of 2 ppm by mass or less, a methyl mercaptan content in terms of sulfur content of 3 ppm by mass or less, a content of sulfur compounds having a boiling point equal to or higher than that of dimethyl disulfide in terms of sulfur content of 2 ppm by mass or less, a methanol content of 50 ppm by mass or less, and a water content of 50 ppm by mass or less, the balance being a C3 hydrocarbon compounds. The liquefied petroleum gas fuel for LP gas fuel cells ensures effective performance of a desulfurizing agent even when used in a minimum amount, thereby enhancing desulfurization performance, prevents damaging of a reforming catalyst employed in a reformer for producing hydrogen provided on the downstream side of a desulfurizer, and realizes reliable operation of the reformer and consistent generation of electric power. The invention also provides a method for desulfurizing the liquefied petroleum gas fuel, and a fuel cell system employing a hydrogen-containing gas produced through reforming of the liquefied petroleum gas fuel which has been desulfurized through the desulfurization method.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]The present invention relates to a liquefied petroleum gas fuel which is suitable for LP gas fuel cell systems and which is fed to such fuel cell systems through a spontaneous vaporization supply method; to a desulfurization method for the liquefied petroleum gas fuel; and to a fuel cell system employing a hydrogen-containing gas which has been produced through reforming of the desulfurized liquefied petroleum gas fuel.BACKGROUND ART[0002]In recent years, in order to cope with mounting global environmental crisis in the future, there has been keen demand for the development of new energy-supply systems friendly to the earth. Among them, energy-supply systems employing hydrogen as a fuel, such as fuel cells and hydrogen engines, have attracted attention, from the viewpoint of high energy efficiency and non-contaminating exhaust gas. For supplying hydrogen to, among others, a fuel cell, there have already been known a direct hydrogen supply technique including com...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): C10L1/18
CPCB01J20/02Y02E60/50B01J20/18B01J20/186B01J20/32B01J20/3236C01B3/34C01B3/38C01B2203/0233C01B2203/0238C01B2203/0244C01B2203/0261C01B2203/066C01B2203/1211C01B2203/1247C01B2203/127C10G2400/28C10L3/12H01M8/0618H01M8/0662H01M8/0675B01J20/06B01J20/3204B01J20/041B01J20/08B01J20/12B01J20/14B01J20/103H01M8/06
Inventor TAKEGOSHI, GAKUJIKATSUO, HISASHI
Owner IDEMITSU KOSAN CO LTD
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