Novel Energy Recovery System

Fuel cells are a high efficiency, low footprint and low noise technology that can generate electricity for critical and non-critical military applications aboard Navy ships. Typically shipboard systems are in the 500kWe range. PEM fuel cells only operate on hydrogen gas (H2), that must be relatively free of sulfur and carbon monoxide. In conventional systems, logistics fuel is reformed into hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and methane. This gas is shifted to increase the hydrogen concentration and then processed in a membrane module where pure hydrogen is extracted for the fuel cell. The gases that do not diffuse through the membrane have currently-unused fuel value. This results in current systems with system efficiencies of only 40%. TDA Research, Inc. (TDA) has developed a process that increases the overall system efficiency from 40% to more than 50%. In our system the energy content of the raffinate is chemically captured and then indirectly transferred to the reformer, eliminating the need to burn extra logistics fuel to supply the endothermic heat of reforming. In Phase I TDA will demonstrate the concept and approach using a laboratory reactor at process temperatures and pressures. We will then conduct a detailed process design and economic analysis.