**3.2 The effect of fuel supply rate**

Conversion efficiencies are crucial indicators of reforming processes and can be used to indicate the reformation efficiency. Higher conversion efficiency implies that more fuel participates in the reactions, therefore more reformate products are produced. As shown in Fig. 9, the methane flow rates of this study are 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 L/min, and the O2/C ratio is between 0.5 and 1.0. High fuel conversion efficiency is found at relatively high O2/C ratios and high methane flow rates. This is because at the same O2/C ratio, an increase in the flow rate of fuel would increase the heat release of oxidation; therefore the required energy for reaction is effectively obtained. It is also found that as the O2/C ratio increases, the increase in conversion efficiency gradually slows down because it nearly reaches the maximum space velocity of the reforming system.

Fig. 9. The effect of methane flow rate on methane conversion efficiency at different O2/C ratios
