Hydrogen Separation from a Logistic-Fuel Reformate Stream

Despite fifteen years of R&D, PEM fuel cell power plants have not been successfully deployed on naval vessels. The principal cause is the fuel processor, which must operate on diesel fuel with up to 1wt% sulfur, but provide pure hydrogen to a PEM fuel cell that is intolerant of impurities. The fuel processors must be small, efficient and inexpensive. These have been the Navy goals for as long as they have sponsored fuel cell development. Analytic's Clean Gas Reformer meets these requirements. The program objective is to build a reformer as insensitive to sulfur as the power plants currently used on ships. The internal hydrogen separation element is optimized by building on the work completed in previous SBIR and commercially funded reformer programs. while taking advantage of new technological advances. Hydrogen separation by a glass membrane will be measured and characterized. Finally, the ATR catalyst performance and stability on NATO F76 fuel will be proved. The program culminates with the preliminary design of the fuel processor to be built under Phase II.