Paraffinic hydrocarbon for fuel cell application

A method of producing electricity in a fuel cell, comprising:

• a) converting an unreformed fuel to a reformate fuel gas;
• and
• b) electrochemically combining hydrogen derived from said reformate fuel gas with an oxidant without combustion to produce electrical energy;
• wherein the unreformed fuel is a solid paraffin hydrocarbon at ambient temperatures.

A fuel cell system comprising:

• a) a reformer for converting an unreformed fuel to a reformate fuel gas;
• and
• b) a fuel cell stack adapted to generate power using the reformate fuel gas;
• wherein the unreformed fuel comprises at least about 5 wt. percent olefins;
• at least about 5 wt. percent n-paraffins;
• and between about 2 and 50 wt. percent branched paraffins wherein substantially all of the branch groups are monomethyl and wherein the ratio of terminal monomethyl branching to internal monomethyl branching is at least about 1:1.5;
• wherein the unreformed fuel is a solid at a temperature in the range of from about 20° C. to about 50° C.
• wherein the unreformed fuel is a product of a Fischer-Tropsch reaction that incorporates feed syngas having 10-60% N2.

A method of producing electricity in a fuel cell, comprising:

• a) providing a solid paraffinic hydrocarbon fuel;
• b) converting said solid paraffinic hydrocarbon fuel to a liquid, a gas, or a mixture thereof;
• c) passing said liquid, gas or mixture thereof through a reformer to produce hydrogen;
• and
• d) electrochemically combining the hydrogen with an oxidant to produce electrical energy;
• wherein the unreformed fuel comprises at least about 5 wt. percent olefins;
• at least about 5 wt. percent n-paraffins;
• and between about 2 and 50 wt. percent branched paraffins wherein substantially all of the branch groups are monomethyl and wherein the ratio of terminal monomethyl branching to internal monomethyl branching is at least about 1:1.5.