Fuel processing for pem fuel cells: In-line adsorbent filters for mea protection

Hydrogen generation from JP8 reformation and clean-up of the reformate to produce polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) quality hydrogen are studied. The fuel processor has reformer, post-former, water gas shift reactors, H₂S removal, preferential CO oxidation (PROX), and CO₂ removal stages. The processor incorporates a final adsorbent fuel filter that can efficiently remove parts per million level impurities that may poison the fuel cell catalyst. As an example of this generic approach, microfibrous entrapped media containing sorbents to remove H₂S, NH₃, CO, and CO₂ were sequentially layered. The PROX reactor operates at 180°-200°C and 1 atm. The CO content is reduced to < 10 ppm at the exit of the reactor. With additional process integration, mainly energy, the fuel processor can become an attractive means of hydrogen generation. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the AIChE Annual Meeting (Austin, TX 11/7-12/2004).