Natural fuel processor

Global has also designed and built a dual-stage, low-temperature adsorbent desulfurizer. Sulfur in propane can exceed as much as 300-ppm compared to natural gas, which ranges from 2 to 15-ppm sulfur and it must be removed to block any poisoning of the fuel cell. The test results indicated that no sulfur compounds were present in the outlet gas of the desulfurizer. The system design uses a modular assembly and layout, including a circular hot box where the fuel cell stacks and the fuel processor are located and easily accessed. 

Fuel Hydrogen for PAFC power plants will typically be produced from conversion of a wide variety of primary fuels such as CH4 (e.g., natural gas), petroleum products (e.g., naphtha), coal liquids (e.g., CH3OH) or coal gases. Besides H2, CO and CO2 are also produced during conversion of these fuels (unreacted hydrocarbons are also present). These reformed fuels contain low levels of CO (after steam reforming and shift conversion reactions in the fuel processor) which cause anode poisoning in PAFCs. The CO2 and unreacted hydrocarbons (e.g., CH4) are electrochemically inert and act as diluents. Because the anode reaction is nearly reversible, the fuel... 

McDermott Technology, Inc. (MTI), the research and development branch of McDermott International, Inc. has been developing fuel processors for the past six years. Reformers for liquid fuels such as gasoline and diesel fuel, and for natural gas have been developed. 

An experimental study by Lee et al. [72] reported the development and testing of a natural gas fuel processor, which incorporates a catalytic autothermal reformer, a sulfur trap and a WGS reactor. The fuel processor was successfully run over 2300 h of continuous operation. The ATR reactor gave over 40% H2 (dry basis) in the ATR reformate and 96-99.9% methane conversion over the entire test duration. 

Design, construct and evaluate a compact, responsive, natural gas fuel processor, scaleable between - 1 kW and - 50 kW, and hence suitable for residential through to small commercial CHP systems. The system should achieve a power density of > 1 kW/litre, a performance degradation of < 0.5% in 1,000 hours, < 10 ppm CO output, and a 10,000 hour operating life 2005... 

TABLE 7. Fuel processor and overall fuel-processing efficiency for natural gas... 

In view of the abundance of natural gas resources found since the 1980s, and natural gas being a considerably cleaner fuel than petroleum or coal for the fuel processors, the main goals of the major worldwide fuel cell programs are to develop fuel cell power plants and portable power sources using natural gas or natural gas-derived fuel cells. A chart of all types of fuel cells, using natural gas as a fuel, is presented in Scheme 9.2 the applications being considered for the different types of fuel... 

Autothermal reformers and CPO are being developed by a number of groups, mostly for fuel processors of gasoline, diesel, and JP-8 fuels and for natural gas-fueled proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) cogeneration systems. A few examples are the following ... 

UTC Fuel Cells has partnered with Shell Hydrogen to develop a variety of fuel processors for natural gas, gasoline, and diesel feed for PEMFC, phosphoric acid fuel cell (PAFC), and distributed H2 production applications.8... 

Gardner et al. reported that H2S catalytic partial oxidation technology with an AC catalyst is a promising method for the removal of H2S from fuel cell hydrocarbon feedstocks.206 Three different fuel cell feedstocks were considered for analysis sour natural gas, sour effluent from a liquid middle distillate fuel processor, and a Texaco 02-blown coal-derived synthesis gas. Their experimental results indicate that H2S concentration can be removed down to the part per million level in these plants. Additionally, a power-law rate expression was developed and reaction kinetics compared with prior literature. The activation energy for this reaction was determined to be 34.4 kJ/g mol with the reaction being first order in H2S and 0.3 order in 02. 

Phase II Demonstration and delivery of a high efficiency reformate tolerant 7-kWf,gt fuel cell stack and power plant utilizing molded bipolar plates and natural gas fuel processor to Argonne National Laboratory for independent testing and verification. 

Develop a T-kW gt fuel cell system with integrated natural gas fuel processor. 

A 10-kW natural gas fuel processor will be integrated into the power plant. The processor is capable of starting up and producing fuel cell quality reformate in less than 60 minutes. Furthermore, it is able to transition from minimum power to full power (2 kW to 10 kW) in less than 60 seconds. The reformer is a larger version of the unit used in the 3-kW et stationary plant, which has demonstrated good transient response and low CO output (less than 50 ppm throughout its operating envelope). 

Fabricate and operate a fully automated 50 kW fuel processor capable of operating on natural gas. 

Nuvera is working with the Department of Energy to develop efficient, low emission, on-board multi-fuel processors for the transportation application. The fuels include gasoline, methanol, ethanol, and natural gas. 

Mayfair and Harold Kung, along with Colleen Costello (Northwestern University, Evanston, IL) review catalysts for CO oxidation over Au catalysts. This is an important reaction in the development of fuel processors to produce hydrogen for fuel cells. The authors discuss the unusual behavior of nanoparticles of Au, and point out that there is no consensus on the nature of the active site and the mechanism. Their review focuses on the preparation and effect of the support, the nature of the active site, the mechanism, and deactivation of these catalysts. 

Hydrogen for use in residential fuel cells can be produced from pipeline natural gas using a fuel processor. Assume that a residential, fuel-cell, electric-power generator with 5 kW electricity output has an efficiency of 50% (the electricity output from the fuel cell is 50% of the lower... 

Lee SHD, Applegate DV, Ahmed S, Calderone SG, Harvey TL (2005) Hydrogen from natural gas. Part I autothermal reforming in an integrated fuel processor. Int J Hydrogen Energy 30 829-842... 

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