Summary of Research Project Results under JSPS FY2001 "Research for the Future Program"

　The purpose of the present study is to establish methods for the reforming of low quality fuels and for the efficient energy conversion system through chemical reactions under supercritical conditions. In order to attain the purpose, the understanding of the physico-chemical properties of supercritical fluids is of particular importance, and the experiments have been carried out using vessels with sapphire windows to measure UV-visible, emission, and NMR spectra, and to measure Mach-Zehnder interferometer. Based on these basic studies, we have found that ruthenium(IV) dioxide acts as an enormous catalytic effect for the decomposition of any organic compounds in supercritical water. As a matter of fact, coal decomposed in supercritical water in the presence of the catalyst resulting in the formation of hydrogen gas as a major species with 20% of carbon dioxide. Although the mechanism has not been established yet, hydrogen seems to be generated from water during the decomposition of coal. Furthermore, the use of this catalyst enabled the complete decomposition of any plastics forming gas. The main species in the formed gas is methane, and about 40% of cabin dioxide and 5% of hydrogen are detected by gas-chromatographic measurements. In conclusion, the fuel reforming in the present study has been done successfully, and will be in progress for the industrial application. With respect to the efficient energy conversion system, we have established the basic data in supercritical water. The system seems to be feasible in the future.

1.Research Institution		Tokyo Institute of Technology

2.Research Area		Physical and Engineering Sciences

3.Research Field		Innovation in Energy Generation, Conversion, Materials and Systems for the Future

4.Term of Project		FY 1997 ～ FY 2001

5.Project Number		97P00903

6.Title of Project		Study on Raising Quality of Fuels by Use of the Reactions under Super Critical Conditions and on Efficient Energy Transfer System

Name	Institution,Department	Title of Position
Hiroshi,Tomiyasu	Tokyo Institute of Technology	Emeritus Professor

Names	Institution,Department	Title of Position
Yoshio, Yoshizawa	Tokyo Institute of Technology, Research Laboratory for Nuclear Reactors	Professor
Yasuhiko, Fujii	Tokyo Institute of Technology, Research Laboratory for Nuclear Reactors	Professor

Summary of Research Project Results under JSPS FY2001"Research for the Future Program"

Summary of Research Project Results under JSPS FY2001
"Research for the Future Program"