SBIR-STTR Award

Presently available technology for converting logistic fuels to hydrogen for use in fuel cells is unsatisfactory in three fundamental ways. First there is the problem that the hydrogen that is produced in the initial fuel gasification step contains impurities such as CO, H,S and NH, which must be removed since they would poison the fuel cell. Secondly the hydroden is diluted with CO, and N2 which make it unsuitable for use in some types of fuel cells and reduce the efficiency with which it can be used in the others. Thirdly to achieve any reasonable efficiency a complex heat recovery system is needed. This proposal describes a new technology for producing hydrogen from high molecular weight liquid fuels which avoids all these problems, i.e. fuel and water are fed to a single reaction vessel and the product coming out is, except for some excess water, virtually pure hydrogen. As is discussed in detail in the proposal there are good reasons to expect that this new technology will be highly efficient at full and part load, have low capital and operating costs relative to presently available technologies, have excellent transient response, near zero emissions of NOx and soot, and will have no materials of construction problems. Anticipated

Benefits:
Successful development of this technology will greatly increase the number of situations in which fuel cells are the method of choice for generating electricity.

Keywords:
combustion fuel cell heat transfer diesel fuel catalyst jet fuel hydrogen purity

A new process for converting logistics fuel to pure hydrogen has been demonstrated on a laboratory scale. The fuel, steam, and air are fed to a single reactor. This reactor has two output streams. One of these output streams consists of oxygen depleted air that contains CO2 and whatever sulfur the fuel contains as SO2. The other output stream is hydrogen that is pure enough for fuel cell use. Since the reactor is operated in a weakly exothermic manner, it does not need an external heat supply. It is now proposed to build a hydrogen generator of sufficient size to fuel a 10kw fuel cell, and to do a series of experiments demonstrating that this hydrogen generator operates in a satisfactory manner. In an optional task this hydrogen generator will be repackaged and used to power a fuel cell vehicle. Anticipated

Benefits:
This project will give the U.S. military a quiet and highly efficient means of supplying military outposts with the electricity they need. It will also make fuel cells much more practical for a wide range of military and civilian applications.