Integrated fuel cell system
AssigneeIdaTech, LLC
InventorsDavid J. Edlund, William A. Pledger
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invented system includes a fuel-cell system comprising a fuel cell that produces electrical power from air (oxygen) and hydrogen, and a fuel processor that produces hydrogen from a variety of feedstocks. One such fuel processor is a steam reformer which produces purified hydrogen from a carbon-containing feedstock and water. In the invented system, various mechanisms for implementing the cold start-up of the fuel processor are disclosed, as well as mechanisms for optimizing and/or harvesting the heat and water requirements of the system and/or maintaining the purity of the process water used in the system.
Claims20
In a fuel processing system having a hydrogen-production region, in which a mixed gas stream containing hydrogen gas and other gases is produced by steam reforming from a feed stream containing a carbon-containing feedstock and water, and a separation region, in which the mixed gas stream is separated into at least a hydrogen-rich stream from which a product hydrogen stream is formed and a byproduct stream containing at least a substantial portion of the other gases, a method for starting up the fuel processing system comprising:
- delivering a stream containing hydrogen gas from a hydrogen storage vessel to a combustion region and combusting the stream to produce a heated fluid stream;
- heating the hydrogen-production region with the heated fluid stream until the hydrogen-production region reaches a temperature of at least approximately 250° C.;
- delivering a feed stream containing water and a carbon-containing feedstock to the hydrogen-production region to produce by steam reforming the mixed gas stream;
- separating the mixed gas stream into the hydrogen-rich stream and the byproduct stream;
- delivering at least a portion of the hydrogen-rich stream to the hydrogen storage vessel to at least partially recharge the hydrogen storage vessel and delivering the byproduct stream to the combustion region;
- and
- delivering at least a portion of the hydrogen-rich stream to a fuel cell stack to produce an electric current therefrom.
A fuel cell system, comprising:
- a hydrogen-producing fuel processor adapted to receive a carbon-containing feedstock and water and to produce a byproduct stream and a product hydrogen stream containing hydrogen gas therefrom, wherein the fuel processor includes a hydrogen-production region, in which the feedstock and water are reacted at an elevated temperature to form a product stream containing hydrogen gas, and a separation region adapted to separate the product stream into at least the product hydrogen stream and a byproduct stream;
- a fuel cell stack adapted to receive the product hydrogen stream and produce an electric current therefrom, wherein the fuel cell stack includes a cathode chamber and an anode chamber and is further adapted to produce a water stream that is removed from the cathode chamber of the fuel cell stack;
- and
- a cooling assembly that is adapted to receive and cool the water stream, wherein the cooling assembly includes an ion-exchange bed through which at least a portion of the water stream is passed to remove ions from the water stream.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.