SBIR-STTR Award

The proposal solicits funding for the development of a fuel processing component for the reforming of sulfur-laden JP-5 and other logistic fuels as part of an overall fuel cell energy system. Sulfur in such fuels will hinder the performance of reforming processes and the fuel, but existing sulfur-handling methods either are too difficult to adapt to small on-board reforming systems, or will require frequent maintenance to replace adsorption beds. The proposal outlines the work towards the development of a processing step based on the pre-reforming of the fuel in order to achieve two goals simultaneously: to and to strip and remove the sulfur species from the lighter fuel product in order to be either captured or vented later, and to reduce the fuel to small hydrocarbons that are less prone to coke formation at higher temperatures. The overall process include regeneration and redundancy for protection of downstream processing components. The proposal described a two phase work plan. In the first Phase, catalysts for the proposal process will be developed and tested in laboratory conditions to determine the feasibility of the process. In the second Phase, a test bed unit for this process will be built and demonstrated.

Fuel cell systems operating on logistic fuels must be able to handle the presence of high levels of sulfur (up to 5000 ppm). Nu Element, Inc. has developed a desulphurization technology that incorporates into their existing fuel processing architecture, previously validated with sulfur-free JP-5. Phase I of the ONR SBIR was used to identify key materials for the process and to determine pathways for further improvements. Phase II of the SBIR will be used to further develop these materials to improve the desulphurization process. Phase II will also be used to incorporate the desulphurization process with Nu Element’s existing fuel processing architecture to operating on sulfur-laden JP-5, as well as to scale these units to bench-top demonstration unit, (from 250 W to 1 kW, depending on optional funding).

Keywords:
Fuel Processing, Fuel Cell Systems, Desulphurization, Jp-5