Fuel cell system including high-temperature desulfurization subsystem and method of operating the same
AssigneeBloom Energy Corporation
InventorsDavid Weingaertner, Emad El Batawi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fuel cell system includes a hot box, a stack of fuel cells disposed in the hot box, and a desulfurization subsystem. The desulfurization subsystem may include a sulfur adsorption reactor containing a metal oxide, such as ZnO, configured to adsorb sulfur species from fuel, a first fuel conduit configured to provide fuel to the reactor, and a second fuel conduit configured to receive fuel from the reactor. The desulfurization subsystem may be configured to heat the reactor to an operating temperature ranging from about 200° C. to about 450° C., using heat generated in the hot box.
Claims25
A fuel cell system comprising:
- a hot box;
- a stack of fuel cells disposed in the hot box;
- and
- a desulfurization subsystem comprising:
- a sulfur adsorption reactor comprising a metal oxide configured to adsorb sulfur species from fuel;
- and
- a first fuel conduit configured to provide fuel to the reactor,
- wherein the subsystem is configured heat the reactor to an operating temperature ranging from about 200° C. to about 450° C., using heat generated in the hot box.
A method of operating a fuel cell system comprising a hot box, a stack of fuel cells disposed in the hot box;
- and a desulfurization subsystem comprising a sulfur adsorption reactor comprising a metal oxide, the method comprising:
- heating the reactor to an operating temperature ranging from about 200° C. to about 450° C., using heat generated in the hot box;
- and
- removing sulfur species from a fuel inlet stream provided to the stack of fuel cells using the heated reactor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.