reformers

Noun

reformer (plural reformers)

1. One who reforms, or who works for reform.
   • Among the frontrunners before the conclave began were Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state; Luis Antonio Tagle, a reformer from the Philippines; Péter Erdő, a traditionalist from Hungary; Robert Sarah, a cardinal from Guinea who criticised Francis’s papacy; and the moderate US cardinal...2025 May 8, Angela Giuffrida and Harriet Sherwood, “White smoke from Sistine Chapel chimney signals election of new pope”, in The Guardian
2. (historical) One who was involved in the Reformation.
   • […] for I long to ſee a larke without a creaſt, and would travaile farre to diſcoover a reformer without a fault, […]1593, Gabriell Haruey [i.e., Gabriel Harvey], Pierces Supererogation: Or A New Prayse of the Old Asse. A Preparative to Certaine Larger Discourses, Intituled Nashes S. Fame, London: […] Iohn Wolfe...
3. (chemical engineering, fuel cells) A device which converts hydrocarbons into a hydrogen-rich mixture of gases.
   • The fuel reformer works somewhat like catalytic converters in cars. In the gasoline reformer, vaporized gasoline is mixed with steam and air before traveling through a cylinder packed with the new Argonne catalyst. The result is a hydrogen-rich gas that is further processed in subsequent chemical...2004, Evelyn Brown, “Argonne tests and creates the fuel cells to power the future”, in Evelyn Brown, editor, Logos, volume 22, number 1, page 15
4. A device used to convert petroleum refinery naphthas, typically having low octane ratings, into high-octane liquid products called reformates.
   • Deisohexanizer bottoms are routed to the continuous reformer, where the octane of the stream is upgraded chiefly by conversion of naphthenes and paraffins to high octane aromatic compounds.1979 December, Alaska Petrochemical Company, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Draft[:] Environmental Impact Statement, page 29

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