A mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide produced by reforming natural gas or gasifying coal and biomass. It serves as an intermediate building block for creating synthetic natural gas, ammonia, or methanol. In fuel cell systems, this gas is generated by a reformer and fed directly into the stack to produce electricity.
The reformer is running hot, but the synthesis gas composition looks stable at the outlet.
Operators almost exclusively call this syngas on the floor, reserving the full name for formal documentation.
Also heard as
- syngas
Related terms
Reformer
A refining unit that converts low-octane naphtha into high-octane reformate.
Reformate
A high-octane liquid hydrocarbon mixture produced by a catalytic reformer.
Fuel cell
An electrochemical device that continuously converts the chemical energy of a fuel and an oxidant directly into electrical energy.