Modular High Power Fuel Cell System Design

An energy efficient method to achieve a constant source of pure water is required for steam or auto thermal reforming of high sulfur logistic fuels. Presently, this includes use of a significant number of auxiliary components to separate and clean the recovered water to high purity levels which add to the total complexity and cost of the system. This system will recover enough pure water from the raffinate stream so that, when combined with the pure water recovered from the fuel cell, there will be sufficient quantities of high quality water to support either advanced steam reforming or auto thermal reforming. In order to achieve high efficiency and high density we will use a fuel cell system integrated with an advanced micro channel fuel processor. The fuel processing system comprises a micro channel steam reformer integrated with a micro channel heat exchanger and a micro channel hydrogen separation system. This model for fuel reforming process significantly increases the energy efficiency and compactness. The projected water recovered and purified from the raffinate / fuel processor when combined with water recovered from the fuel cell will exceed the water needed to operate advanced steam or auto thermal reformer systems by 10%.