Transient PrOx carbon monoxide measurement, control, and optimization

Fuel processing systems for low temperature polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell systems require control of the carbon monoxide concentration to less than 100 ppm to 10 ppm in the anode feed. Conventional hydrocarbon fuel processors use a water-gas shift (WGS) reactor to react CO with water to form H2 and reduce the CO concentration. The CO conversion is limited by equilibrium at the outlet temperature of the WGS reactor. The WGS outlet CO concentration can range from over 1% to 2000 ppm depending on the system and its operating parameters. At these concentrations, CO poisons low temperature PEM fuel cells and the concentrations needs to be reduced further

Fuels for fuel cells: Fuel and catalyst effects on carbon formation

The goal of this research is to explore the effects of fuels, fuel constituents, additives and impurities on the performance of on-board hydrogen generation devices and consequently on the overall performance of fuel cell systems using reformed hydrocarbon fuels. Different fuels and components have been tested in automotive scale, adiabatic autothermal reactors to observe their relative reforming characteristics with various operating conditions. Carbon formation has been modeled and was experimentally monitored in situ during operation by laser measurements of the effluent reformate. Ammonia formation was monitored, and conditions varied to observe under what conditions N H 3 is made

Catalysts for improved fuel processing

This report covers our technical progress on fuel processing catalyst characterization for the specific purpose of hydrogen production for proton-exchange-membrane (PEM) fuel cells. These development efforts support DOE activities in the development of compact, transient capable reformers for on-board hydrogen generation starting from candidate fuels. The long-term objective includes increased durability and lifetime, in addition to smaller volume, improved performance, and other specifications required meeting fuel processor goals. The technical barriers of compact fuel processor size, transient capability, and compact, efficient thermal management all are functions of catalyst performance. Significantly, work at LANL now tests large-scale fuel processors for performance and durability, as influenced by fuels and fuel constituents, and complements that testing with micro-scale catalyst evaluation which is accomplished under well controlled conditions

Transient control of carbon monoxide with staged PrOx reactors

Fuel Processor systems generate hydrogen for fuel cell systems from hydrocarbon fuels such as gasoline for automotive fuel cell systems and natural gas for stationary fuel cell systems. These fuel processor systems must remove any contaminants to levels that won't poison the fuel cell before the outlet hydrogen-rich gas stream can be used by the fuel cell to generate electricity. Carbon monoxide is a contaminant that must be removed to levels of < 100 ppm or < 10 ppm depending on the CO tolerance of the fuel cell. Typically, the last unit operation in a fuel processor is a preferential oxidation reactor or a selective oxidation reactor, which removes CO by oxidizing it to form C02. These are catalytic reactors where the catalyst and operating conditions are selected so that the oxidation rate of the carbon monoxide is higher than the oxidation rate of hydrogen, even though the hydrogen is present at much higher concentrations (> 30%) than carbon monoxide which is present at trace concentrations (< 1%)